Verified answer

Yes, because a) he protected the most sensitive areas, and b) this is primarily a political move on Obama's part to secure the votes he will need to make real climate/energy legislation possible. The coal and oil industries are so wealthy and powerful in so many states that it will be all but impossible to effect substantive change without throwing a bone to the "drill, baby, drill" crowd and the nuclear fans (especially without a supermajority in the Senate). Take a look sometime at how many states have coal mining (27) or substantial coal-related employment (most of them)--there goes the Senate. The fossil fuel industry was spending unbelievable millions fighting the Waxman-Markey bill which narrowly passed the House, and that was before the health care fight or losing a Democratic Senate seat in Massachusetts.

Everyone who looks closely (and honestly) at the issues knows that we need oil and coal for at least a while; we can't immediately switch our entire economy off of fossil fuels, and there's a certain hypocrisy to consuming them from other countries where the environmental controls are not as good (so the poor in places like Nigeria end up living in horribly polluted circumstances so that we can continue to drive SUV's). In a perfect world, we wouldn't drill offshore in the US **or anywhere else**--but in the short term, we're going to have to make some compromises to get a hard cap on greenhouse gas emissions. This is a pragmatist's compromise.

Remember, also, that allowing drilling doesn't mean it will happen; there are a ton of existing leases that are not being exercised because the extractions costs are so high offshore.

Once you get good legislation, once you have a cap and put a price on carbon, you start to make alternative energy more financially attractive, and drive investment in research and improvements in technology so that ultimately things like solar and wind and geothermal and fuel cells can compete financially with dirty fuels. By taking the initiative and bushwhacking the fossil fuel lobby, Obama has taken a brilliant strategic step toward making that possible. He IS the change, and I believe in him.

The truth is that mankind will find and use every drop of oil he can find.It is also true that the easy oil has been found.From now on the oil found will be harder to get, dirtier and more expensive.

In the future we will have to decided where best to invest oil and gas for example ,fuel, plastics, fertilizers,etc.Now is the time to be investing in the alternatives and calculate the true costs of CO2,and prepare for a changing future.

What does one think the country will run on until alternative fuels can be developed and put into work.

Petroleum is used for much more that just gasoline and heating.

What is an alternative for plastic, fiberglass, medicine and many many others?

Foreign dependence on oil is a major cause of our current economic crisis. If we don't stop our dependence on foreign oil, we will never be able to recover economically. Global warming is already too late to stop if it is happening. I am completely 100% for this solution. However, the Pickens plan is really the plan we should be focusing on now.

Yes, I think I do. There are precious few instances where President Obama and I agree, but this is one of them. Why be ripped off by Arabs when we have oil at home?

He can make speeches all he wants, as long as the Democrats are in office it will not pass Congress. Then again, we in the United States have a hard time building solar and wind farms without lawsuits from environmentalists claiming it will destroy the environment. Then again, the claim victory when they shut down a 4000 MW project and force a company instead to build a 1200 MW power plant.

I see it as admitting that fossil fuels are a necessity. Why alarmist pretend that renewables are the only solution is misleading and naive. Those that live in the real world agree that no form of substantial alternative energy is going happen anytime soon.

I'm all for lessening our dependence on foreign oil.

It should be noted that it doesn't matter if we export most of any new oil... Increased domestic production is still increased independence.

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I trust him as far as I can throw him.

There's some kind of political pay-off in this.

The enemy lives in the White House.

no