Obama Denies Permits For Seismic Testing To Search For Oil In Atlantic

"For the second time in less than a month, the Obama administration on Friday took an action that all but shuts the door on drilling in the Atlantic Ocean, denying six permits to companies seeking to use seismic cannons to search for oil under the ocean floor.

The president’s decision stymies the oil industry’s hopes to drill off the coast between Delaware and Florida. It immediately drew scorn from the industry’s political supporters and lobbyists, though it was applauded by conservationists worried about the permanence of the president’s considerable environmental legacy once Donald Trump takes office.

Last year before Christmas, Obama used a little-known law that gives presidents the discretion to protect public land and banned hundreds of millions of acres of federally owned territories in the Arctic and Atlantic oceans from new offshore oil and gas drilling. His latest action appeared to be made with an eye on the president-elect, who promised in his campaign to “open onshore and offshore leasing on federal lands” and to “unleash America’s $50 trillion in untapped shale, oil, and natural gas reserves, plus hundreds of years in clean coal reserves.”"

Darryl Fears reports for the Washington Post January 6, 2017.