Drilled Baby Drilled

You know, the people who said that President Obama said what he had to say during the campaign, feinting to the center and then moving left once in power, is massing a good amount of evidence.

U.S. President Barack Obama may order a hold on a proposal issued in the final days of the Bush administration to expand offshore drilling in previously banned areas, an Interior Department official told Reuters on Wednesday.

Shortly after being sworn in on Tuesday, Obama ordered all federal agencies and departments to halt pending regulations until they can be reviewed by incoming staff.

An Interior official said the department is waiting for clarification from the White House on whether a proposed draft of a five-year plan to lease areas in the Atlantic and Pacific waters for oil and natural gas drilling can go forward.

I think Interior Department Secretary Ken Salazar has argued against oil shale exploration in the interior West in the past.

Now, Obama may not be able politically to reinstate the ban, but he could functionally reinstate it through denying expansion proposals. And considering that miniscule amount of oil available in the US, this won't affect supply and is not worth destroying environmental balance in the process.