Obama kills Bush's offshore drilling plan

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Tuesday February 10, 2009 · 1:17 PM PST

2009/02/10 · 13:17

Remember all the anxiety a while back that Barack Obama was going to go along with the Bush plan to allow oil companies to drill pretty much at will off of America's coastlines?

Guess what -- he's not:

The Obama administration on Tuesday overturned another Bush-era energy policy, setting aside a draft plan to allow drilling off the Atlantic and Pacific coasts.

"To establish an orderly process that allows us to make wise decisions based on sound information, we need to set aside" the plan "and create our own timeline," Interior Secretary Ken Salazar announced in a statement.

Alleging that the Bush administration "had torpedoed" offshore renewable energy in favor of oil and natural gas, Salazar said he was extending the public comment period by 6 months.

More after the jump.

From the article cited above:

"The additional time we are providing will give states, stakeholders, and affected communities the opportunity to provide input on the future of our offshore areas," he said.

Salazar also ordered Interior Department experts to compile a report on the Outer Continental Shelf's energy potential — not just oil and gas, but also renewables like wind and wave energy.

Now, this doesn't mean that offshore drilling is utterly dead. It does mean that a) it won't be happening anytime soon, and b) if it does happen, it will be under strict oversight and limitations.

This is just the latest in a series of good moves on Salazar's part:

Yesterday, we learned via POGO that Salazar is interested in reopening cases against those at the Minerals Management Service who made a mockery of that department...

These are the alleged crimes, recall, referred to DOJ--including alleged sexual assault of a subordinate--that Michael Mukasey didn't think merited prosecution.

And today we get the news that Salazar is going to cancel Bush's last minute drilling leases on sensitive land in UT.

He's also modifying upcoming leases in Wyoming to account for local concerns about conservation and recreation.

This is a pleasant surprise, considering that Ken Salazar often forcibly reminds me of Congressman 'Bingo Bob' Russell, the tool of the mining interests from The West Wing. Then again, Bingo Bob turned out to be a good guy after all, too.

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