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Obama didn't expand offshore drilling, Boehner says


"Obama did not open new lands to offshore drilling – all of these areas were already open for drilling once Congress and President Bush lifted the moratorium in 2008. Instead, President Obama yesterday announced what areas he would CLOSE to offshore drilling."
John Boehner on Monday, April 5th, 2010 in a news release posted on his website.

Condensed story from 2009 Pulitzer prize winner, Politifact.com Click here for Full Story.

Rep. John Boehner of Ohio is the leader of Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives.


Here are the basics of Obama's plan, which lasts from 2012 through 2017:

• The coasts of Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina and part of Florida's eastern seaboard will be open to "exploration, study and potential development."
• The northern coast of Alaska in the Chuckchi and Beaufort Seas will also be open to study and potential development.
• The Bristol Bay area off of the southern coast of Alaska in the North Aleutian Basin is now protected by a presidential memorandum until 2017.

March 31, when Obama announced that he would be allowing new drilling. Looking at his plan -- and the proposal Bush put on the dockets right before he left office -- it's clear that Obama decided to move forward on some parts of the Bush proposal, including drilling in the Atlantic, but scrap other parts, such as drilling in the Northeast and in Bristol Bay.

There is some truth to Boehner's assertion that Obama hasn't opened new areas to drilling given the Bush proposal that was already on the books. But he overlooked the patch of ocean in the eastern Gulf that was not part of Bush's plan and is in Obama's proposal. On his second point, Boehner is also on less than solid ground. Indeed, Bristol Bay -- which likely would have been leased for drilling under the Bush administration -- is closed to drilling, at least until 2017. But other areas not included in Obama's current five-year drilling plan, such as areas in the Pacific, are not technically closed; they're just unavailable for the time being.

So John Boehner --- Are you Kidding?


This post first appeared on Are You Kidding - Political Fact Checker, please read the originial post: here

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