The Department of the Interior will not include the eastern Gulf of Mexico or Atlantic Ocean in its 2012-17 offshore-lease plan, locking up the acreage from new drilling for at least seven years. The announcement marked a reversal in policy for the Obama administration, which announced in March it would consider allowing drilling in those areas. “In our view, this now shuts the door on new development and effectively ensures that the tens of thousands of jobs that could have been created will now not be created,” said Jack Gerard, president and CEO of the American Petroleum Institute.
