WASHINGTON — The Obama administration released a draft of a five-year plan for oil and gas lease sales on Tuesday that would open areas of the Atlantic Ocean and offshore Alaska to drilling.
The draft plan includes 14 potential lease sales in eight planning areas. Ten of the sales are in the Gulf of Mexico, three are off the coast of Alaska in the Chukchi Sea, Beaufort Sea and Cook Inlet areas, and the final one includes parts of the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia. It also declares certain portions of the Chukchi and Beaufort seas off limits for sales, which the Interior Department said is a recognition of the “unique and sensitive environmental resources” in those areas.
–
The proposal will be open for public comment through March 28.
