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U.S. NEWSWednesday 16 March 2016

US bars Atlantic drilling; Obama builds his environmental legacy

MATTHEW DALY tute, the nation’s largest oil
Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) — In a and gas lobbying group.
major reversal, the Obama
administration said Tues- The plan will increase ener-
day it will bar oil drilling
in the Atlantic Ocean, a gy costs for Americans and
move cheered by environ-
mentalists and consistent close the door for years
with the president’s ag-
gressive steps to combat on efforts to create new
climate change.
Interior Secretary Sally Jew- jobs, new investments and
ell said the decision “pro-
tects the Atlantic for future boost energy security, Ge-
generations.”
The decision reverses a rard said.
January 2015 proposal
that would have opened The Pentagon said Atlantic
up sites more than 50 miles
(80 kilometers) off Virginia, offshore drilling could hurt
North and South Carolina
and Georgia to oil drilling military maneuvers and in-
no earlier than 2021.
The decision comes as terfere with missile tests the
President Barack Obama,
in his final year in office, Navy relies on to protect
continues to build an en-
vironmental legacy that the East Coast.
includes a global agree-
ment to curb climate The drilling plan an-
change and an ambitious
plan to reduce carbon nounced Tuesday covers
pollution from coal-fired
power plants. potential lease sales from
The drilling ban is likely to
become an issue in the 2017 to 2022 and calls for
2016 presidential cam-
leasing 10 areas in the Gulf

of Mexico — long the epi-

Speaker of the House Paul Ryan, R-Wis., joined by Majority Whip Steve Scalise, R-La., right, talks to center of U.S. offshore oil
reporters following a closed-door caucus meeting at Republican National Committee headquar- production — and three
ters on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, March 15, 2016. Tea party conservatives have blocked off the Alaska coast.

a budget plan backed by GOP leaders, a blow to Speaker Ryan and a reflection of the anti- The Interior Department

Washington mood pushed by GOP front-runner Donald Trump. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite) estimates there are 3.3 bil-

paign. Both Democratic change,” said Jacqueline Tuesday’s decision “ap- lion barrels of recoverable
Savitz, vice president of peases extremists who oil on the Atlantic’s outer
candidates oppose drilling Oceana, an environmen- seek to stop oil and natu- continental shelf and 31.3
tal group. ral gas production” in the trillion cubic feet of natu-
in the Atlantic, while Re- The oil and gas industry has U.S., said Jack Gerard, ral gas. Energy industry ex-
pushed for Atlantic drilling president and CEO of the perts say the reserves may
publicans vow to expand and pledged that explora- American Petroleum Insti- be far greater.

drilling.

Environmental groups

hailed the decision. “Presi-

dent Obama has taken a tion would be done safely,

Conservatives block US budgetgiant step for our oceans, with lessons applied from
for coastal economies the 2010 BP oil spill in the

plan backed by party leadersand for mitigating climate Gulf of Mexico.

ANDREW TAYLOR President Barack Obama.
Associated Press The fiscal blueprint, re-
WASHINGTON (AP) — Tea leased Tuesday by Bud-
party conservatives have get Committee Chairman
blocked a budget plan Tom Price, a Republican,
backed by Republican relies on eliminating health
leaders, a blow to the care subsidies and other
leader of the U.S. House, coverage provided by
Speaker Paul Ryan, and Obama’s health care law,
a reflection of the anti- sharp cuts to medical pro-
Washington mood pushed grams for the poor and
by the party’s front-running reprises a plan devised by
presidential candidate, Ryan years ago that would
Donald Trump. transform health care for
The move by the House the elderly into a voucher-
Freedom Caucus, the like program for future re-
same band of conserva- tirees. But as in past years,
tives that toppled Ryan’s Republican leaders have
predecessor, would mean no plans to implement the
that the House would fail severe cuts recommended
to pass a budget for the by nonbinding blueprint.
first time since Republicans Instead, the main goal of
reclaimed control of the the budget is to set in mo-
chamber in 2011. tion the annual appropria-
Ryan cited “all of the anxi- tions process, in which the
ety that’s coming to a 12 spending bills that set
crescendo in this country” agency operating budgets
for the reluctance of con- are produced. That’s the
servatives to endorse the $1.1 trillion “discretionary”
leadership-backed budget portion of the $4 trillion-
plan, which endorses high- plus federal budget that is
er agency operating bud- passed by Congress each
gets as agreed to in last year.
year’s budget deal with