Obama blocks oil and gas drilling in the Arctic Ocean

The Obama administration announced today it was rescinding plans to allow oil and gas drilling in parts of the Arctic Ocean. The Interior Department took two areas in the Arctic out of its final five-year road map for offshore drilling. The decision is a win for environmental groups who say industrial activity will harm marine mammals and exacerbate global warming. The decision could be undone by President-elect Donald Trump, who has vowed to lift federal restrictions on oil and gas drilling, but it would take at least a few years to cancel the plan and initiate a new one. The plan by Interior’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management removes two lease sales off the coast of Alaska it had earlier said it would offer between 2017 and 2022. It still plans to offer one lease off the coast of Alaska in the Cook Inlet, but not in the Arctic, and 10 in the Gulf of Mexico.