BIOMASS HUB

Obama Administration announces offshore oil and gas drilling plan. Plan frustrates biofuel stakeholders riding high after February’s RFS 2.0

The Obama Administration’s energy policy is evidently all about domestic sources of energy.  From the Administration’s February announcement outlining a bold U.S. biofuels strategy, which was coordinated with the release of the EPA’s RFS 2.0, to reports Wednesday that Obama would end a longstanding moratorium on offshore oil and natural gas drilling along the East Coast, the Administration is sending a clear signal that it intends to “homegrow” energy security.

But the fact that the two strategies — increasing biofuel production and augmenting domestic oil supplies — are diametrically opposed makes Obama’s joint strategy particularly troublesome for industry stakeholders on either side.

The offshore drilling announcement, for example, was heavily criticized by the ethanol industry, which argued that policymakers should focus on alternative energy sources.

Renewable Fuels Association (RFA) president Bob Dinneen argues:

Relying on 20th century energy sources to address 21st century challenges will not solve the problem.  Oil and other fossil fuels are finite resources.  While we cannot ignore their contributions, neither can we ignore the reality that reliance on them is simply unsustainable.

Obama’s offshore drilling plan calls for opening up Atlantic oil and natural gas exploration from Delaware to the central coast of Florida.  Areas in the eastern Gulf of Mexico and off the northern coast of Alaska would also be opened.  The coastline from New Jersey northward would remain closed to all oil and gas drilling, as would the entire Pacific coast.

The announcement will likely grease the wheel ahead of the Administration’s climate legislation push.  Reports indicate as much, suggesting that Obama’s plan is intended to lower dependence on oil imports, produce revenue from offshore leases, and potentially gather Republican support for the administration’s upcoming energy and climate change legislation, reports said.

Image: Flickr/Peter Bo Rappmund