Obama to announce offshore drilling move

The plan, likely to anger environmentalists, will also continue lease sales in central and western areas of the Gulf of Mexico.

WASHINGTON, March 31, 2010 (AFP) - President Barack Obama was set to announce Wednesday he is opening up vast stretches of US waters to oil and gas drilling, an administration official said.

The plan, likely to anger environmentalists, will also continue lease sales in central and western areas of the Gulf of Mexico, but cancel proposed contracts in Alaska's Bristol Bay over environmental concerns.

An Obama administration official said the new strategy was intended to leverage domestic oil and gas resources to boost efforts to wean the US economy off foreign energy sources.

Republicans, who have marched in lock step to oppose almost all of Obama's domestic agenda, have signaled they are willing to back expanded oil and gas exploration, which will be greeted warmly by US energy companies.

The move may also be an attempt to build support for Obama's effort to pass legislation to cut greenhouse gas emissions, which faces a tough road in Congress.

Obama was to announce that the Interior Department will hold the first new offshore oil and gas sale in the Atlantic in over two decades covering waters 50 miles (80 kilometers) off the Virginia coast, the official said.

At the event at Andrews air force base outside Washington, Obama planned to say that his administration will continue lease sales in the central and western Gulf of Mexico.

Four pending lease sales in the Chukchi and Beaufort seas off Alaska will be cancelled however, in a bid to protect a sensitive area from environmental damage.