No Drilling Off Maryland, Delaware Coasts

Remember a few days ago when the Obama administration announced it was going to go forward with plans for oil drilling off the Atlantic Coast (while it shut down ANWAR?). It turns out it wasn't the entire East Coast: Maryland, Delaware excluded from Atlantic oil drilling

For the first time in more than three decades a lease will be available to drill for oil and gas from the Outer Continental Shelf of the Atlantic Ocean, and in Delaware state officials and environmental groups aren't happy.

The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management released a draft of the proposed Outer Continental Shelf Oil and Gas Leasing Program for 2017-2022, with the possibility of one lease to be bid out in the mid-Atlantic or South Atlantic in 2021.

The bureau received more than a half million public comments on the topic. Delaware asked to be excluded from areas where the lease could occur, as did neighboring Maryland, but Virginia has asked to be included, opening up the possibility of drilling off Delmarva.
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Maryland's decision to be excluded was made under O'Malley's administration, and it is too late to change that — proposed areas can be deleted from the draft, but not added, a BOEM official said. When asked if the administration of new Gov. Larry Hogan would take a different stance, the administration issued the following statement.

"Governor Hogan supports an 'all-of-the-above' approach to making energy more affordable for Maryland families — as long as these efforts can be accomplished in an environmentally safe way," the statement read.

Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control secretary David Small submitted comments against oil and gas exploration in the mid-Atlantic.

I think Congress should exempt the citizens of states that produce more oil than they consume from federal taxes on gasoline and other oil products.