When the Obama administration unveiled a proposal last January to open the southeastern Atlantic coast to oil and gas drilling for the first time, environmental advocates were shocked and enraged — and the oil industry was delighted. The emotions were the same, just on opposite sides of the energy-environmental divide, when the Interior Department announced Tuesday that the administration was yanking Atlantic drilling off the table. And almost everyone was shocked. In the balance between business demands and environmental conservation, President Obama has shown clearly where he wants his legacy to lean. He has killed the Keystone XL pipeline, announced a moratorium on coal extraction from federal lands, and now, after first signaling that he would approve East Coast oil drilling, he has opted to keep the oil under the sea. Obama administration officials said Tuesday that the decision was driven by many factors, but two stood out: an organized outpouring of opposition from the mayors and municipal councils in more than 100 of the coastal communities in the four states that would be affected by the drilling, and concern from the Pentagon that oil and gas exploration could threaten activities around Virginia’s Naval Station Norfolk, the world’s largest naval base. “We heard from many corners that now is not the time to offer oil and gas leasing off the Atlantic coast,” Interior Secretary Sally Jewell said. “When you factor in conflicts with national defense, economic activities such as fishing and tourism, and opposition from many local communities, it simply doesn’t make sense to move forward with any lease sales in the coming five years.” Republicans reacted angrily to the move. House Speaker Paul D. Ryan of Wisconsin said: “President Obama is so intent on solidifying his radical climate legacy that he has backed out of his commitment to a large, bipartisan coalition of state leaders. These states simply want to explore their own energy potential, but the president’s reversal has disenfranchised them of this chance. This is a lost opportunity for new jobs and economic growth in these coastal states.” But while Obama administration officials knew they would face an angry response to the move, they also benefited politically from another factor: The price of oil has plunged to near record lows, easing the public demand for fresh drilling. When developing the initial Atlantic drilling plan last year, Obama administration officials said they were chiefly listening to four people: Virginia’s Democratic governor, Terry McAuliffe, and Pat McCrory, Nikki R. Haley and Nathan Deal, the Republican governors of North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia. The governors told Mr. Obama they wanted the drilling, and they were backed by majorities in their state legislatures and senators. That initial January 2015 proposal, reflecting the wishes of the coastal state governors, came as part of the Interior Department’s mandated release of regular five-year plans governing the federally owned waters of the nation’s outer continental shelf.

• published: 16 Mar 2016
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