Interior Suspends Planned Va. Offshore Oil and Gas Lease Sale

Interior Suspends Planned Va. Offshore Oil and Gas Lease Sale

www.nytimes.com

As the massive Gulf of Mexico oil spill raises questions about the safety of offshore drilling, the Interior Department has indefinitely suspended plans for an oil and gas lease sale off the Virginia coastline.

The department postponed the comment period on the plan indefinitely and canceled a series of public meetings that had been scheduled for this month on the proposed lease sale. The move comes as the department seeks answers from investigations into the explosion and sinking of the Deepwater Horizon rig and the ongoing leak of hundreds of thousands of gallons of oil every day into the

(visit the link for the full news article)

Well this won't be considered a surprise, but is this an over reaction by the administration?

Should they go ahead with the discussions they had planned in regards to the drilling off the Virginia coast?

Or is this a convenient way to end the debate and force through the cap & trade legislation?

I don't know, but one thing I do know is, the president is now on record as supporting oil drilling off the US coast, any chance this card will be played in the 2012 election cycle?

No word on how long the suspension will be in place, as the article mentions most of their focus is now on trying to deal with the situation in the Gulf.

www.nytimes.com
(visit the link for the full news article)




ed:add context

[edit on 5/6/2010 by JacKatMtn]