Salazar says limits needed on offshore drilling (AP/MSNBC)

[eppur_se_muova]

Interior Secretary: Bush's drilling plan will most likely be scrapped

updated 8:18 p.m. ET, Tues., Jan. 27, 2009
WASHINGTON - Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said Tuesday the expansion of offshore oil drilling should be worked out with Congress as part of a broad energy blueprint and not independent action by his department.

In an interview with The Associated Press, Salazar indicated the drilling plan left on his desk by the Bush administration likely will be scrapped. It would open the entire Atlantic and Pacific coasts for drilling.

Salazar declined to single out any waters considered automatically off limits to oil exploration.

"There are places that are appropriate for exploration and development and there are place that are not," Salazar said in an interview in his spacious and historic office, with a fire roaring in the fireplace beneath a full-length painting of George Washington.

Salazar, who resigned as Colorado senator to join President Barack Obama's Cabinet, said he wants to work closely with Congress on "a plan that makes sense" for offshore oil and gas development, but that any expansion of drilling should be part of a comprehensive energy plan.
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more: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28878988/

[virgdem]

1. Thank God...

for the new, sane environmental management and policies. A new day has finally dawned. The thought of oil rigs sitting 50 miles off Virginia Beach was not what we wanted or needed. Bad for the environment and the tourism industry.