March 18, 2015 — Environmentalists say allowing offshore drilling along the U.S. East Coast from northern Virginia to the Georgia-Florida border could lead to a catastrophic oil spill devastating to the crucial tourism industry.
But business and petroleum groups say they want to be able to explore whether significant oil and gas reserves exist that could stabilize energy prices and help the economy overall.
The federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management proposes opening up a stretch of the East Coast in its latest five-year plan, scheduled to take effect in 2017. The agency also is proposing drilling off the northern Alaska coast and in the western and central Gulf of Mexico between Texas and Alabama.
A final decision on the proposals should be made by the end of 2016.
At a public hearing Wednesday in Atlantic City, New Jersey, environmentalists said an oil spill could devastate the environment and economies in states where tens of millions of people live.