"Obama To Clear Way for Offshore Drilling for Oil and Gas"

"The Obama administration will approve significant oil and gas exploration off America's coasts, including a possible sale two years from now of leases off Virginia's coast, administration officials said Wednesday."

The move, which President Obama will announce Wednesday morning with Interior Secretary Ken Salazar at Andrews Air Force Base, ends a long-standing moratorium on oil and gas drilling along much of the East Coast, from Delaware to central Florida.

The new strategy, an administration official said, calls for also developing oil and gas exploration in the Eastern Gulf of Mexico, more than 125 miles from Florida's coast; and in large areas in the Chukchi and Beaufort Seas in the Arctic Ocean, north of Alaska, after the government conducts detailed studies."

Juliet Eilperin reports for the Washington Post March 31, 2010.

See Also:

"Obama To Allow Oil Drilling off Virginia Coast" (AP)
 
"Obama Looking To Open More Areas To Offshore Drilling" (Houston Chronicle)

"Obama To Unveil Offshore Drilling Plans" (Los Angeles Times)

"Obama to Propose More Oil Drilling in Gulf" (Wall Street Journal)

"Obama To Permit Oil Exploration off Virginia Coast" (Reuters)