Obama proposes opening Atlantic coast to offshore drilling

The White House on Tuesday unveiled a proposal to permit offshore drilling in waters stretching from Georgia to Virginia while banning drilling in parts of the Beaufort and Chukchi Seas, in Alaska.

The administration first proposed an oil lease off the Virginia coast in 2010, but scrapped the plan after the Deepwater Horizon disaster in the Gulf of Mexico. The latest proposal — which is separate from the administration's call for Congress to protect 12 million acres of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge from energy exploration— will be finalized later this year after a public comment period.

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