Oil drilling ban to be maintained in key areas

Offshore staff

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Obama administration officials will announce on Dec. 1 that they will not allow offshore oil drilling in the eastern Gulf of Mexico or off the Atlantic and Pacific coasts as part of the next five-year drilling plan, according to sources briefed on the plan, reversing two key policy changes President Obama announced in late March.

During that announcement – less than a month before the BP oil spill – Obama and Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said they would open up the eastern Gulf and parts of the Atlantic, including off the coast of Virginia, to offshore oil and gas exploration.

12/ 1/2010