Energy policy is more than drilling, administration officials say

Administration officials described President Barack Obama's decision to expand offshore drilling as something less than an embrace of the "Drill, Baby, Drill" philosophy Republicans pushed in the summer of 2008 when gas prices shot up to more than $4 a gallon.

“America cannot drill its way to energy independence,” Carol Browner, the administration’s climate czar, told reporters in a conference call Wednesday.

She said the drilling should be viewed in the context of increasing fuel efficiency standards and requiring federal agencies to purchase cleaner vehicles, other components of the broader administration strategy that focuses on conservation in addition to energy production. The Transportation Department and the Environmental Protection Agency are expected to release final fuel economy standards on Thursday.

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said the offshore plan was part of a “new direction” in energy policy that balances conservation and development of the nation's oceans.

Obama announced today his administration would allow drilling off the southeastern coasts of the United States, in eastern Gulf of Mexico and parts of Alaska.

It also canceled lease sales in the Beaufort and Chukchi Seas, sensitive Arctic habitats that environmental groups have sought to protect.

Salazar said there were “huge unanswered questions” surrounding the impact drilling would have in the area. The administration plan would allow further study of the issue, he said.