Obama Blocks Offshore Drilling In Atlantic, Arctic Areas (npr.org)

Before the new administration takes over next month, President Obama took new action Wednesday to place large sections of the Arctic and the Atlantic Oceans off limits to oil drilling. NPR reports: The Arctic protections are a joint partnership with Canada. "These actions, and Canada's parallel actions, protect a sensitive and unique ecosystem that is unlike any other region on earth," the White House said in a statement. "They reflect the scientific assessment that, even with the high safety standards that both our countries have put in place, the risks of an oil spill in this region are significant and our ability to clean up from a spill in the region's harsh conditions is limited," the White House added. "By contrast, it would take decades to fully develop the production infrastructure necessary for any large-scale oil and gas leasing production in the region -- at a time when we need to continue to move decisively away from fossil fuels." Obama's action designates 31 Atlantic canyons "off limits to oil and gas exploration and development activity," totaling 3.8 million acres, according to the administration. It provides the same protections to much of the Arctic's waters, covering the "vast majority of U.S. waters in the Chukchi and Beaufort Seas," totaling 115 million acres. Canada is doing the same to "all Arctic Canadian waters," the joint statement adds. Obama took these actions by invoking a law called the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act, which gives the president the authority to withdraw lands from oil and gas leases.

Comments

Re:This permanent ban...

[gfxguy]

That's because people are short sighted. When oil prices were skyrocketing, people wanted to open ANWR, but the democratic response was that it wouldn't help because it'd take 10 years before it started producing, given not just the drilling but building a pipeline for it. My thoughts were exactly this: we were debating this freaking 10 years ago. If they'd moved then, it would have been done by now and we wouldn't be having this "crisis."

Don't get me wrong - I would like to spend resources on alternatives, too, but the demand for oil is not going to go away for some time.

Re:Even without environmental concerns

[blindseer]

What you really want is advances in batteries so that electric cars can take off. Mind you the only thing really keeping them back is mindset.

I disagree. Around here what is keeping them back is this thing we call "winter". Cold weather is bad for battery car range, if it isn't the capacity loss to the batteries getting cold then it's the range lost to the energy needed to heat the cabin. When the snow gets deep one needs four wheel drive to get around. I've mentioned this to people before and some smartypants will say, "What's the point of four wheel drive? It doesn't make you stop on the ice any better." Well, you see there is this issue of getting moving. Anti-lock brakes, traction control, and all those electronic gizmos are really nice when it snows but if you don't have power to all the wheels then you are not going to enjoy the winter. I can call into work about being snowed in only so many times before it looks bad on my yearly review. If everyone else is at their desk because they have a four wheel drive car or truck then I'm at a disadvantage with my Chevy Bolt.

Winter storms also have a habit of causing power outages. Things have been getting better but they are still common and can last hours, or even days. An electric car leaves one with a problem there too. Oh, and solar panels on the roof to charge the car? Oh, please.

It's going to take more than just better batteries to solve this problem. I know people that have bought old oil drums to keep a reserve of gasoline for when storms strike. If you can make a battery that can compete with gasoline like that then you'll be a megaquadzillionaire. Put those batteries in four wheel drive F-150 to sell and you'll make more money than... I don't know, I think you'll have ALL the money.