Vitter: Obama's plan fails to meet US energy needs

Sen. David Vitter (R-La.) on Tuesday said the Obama administration's five-year offshore oil-and-gas leasing plan would starve the U.S. of needed energy and force the country to import more oil, and formally asked the Interior Department to reconsider its plan.

"Based on this plan, Americans should conclude that the Interior Department believes that the United States' overall energy needs will be reduced over the next 5 years," Vitter wrote to Interior Secretary Ken Salazar. "By reducing the amount of energy production available, your 5-year plan seems to contradict the president's 'Blueprint for a Secure Energy Future,' which was intended to reduce oil imports by a third by 2025."

The administration's plan for 2012-2017 bars drilling in the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) on the Atlantic and Pacific coasts, as well as the eastern portion of the Gulf of Mexico. In both his letter and on the Senate floor, Vitter said the administration would allow only allow 2.16 percent of all OCS acres to be leased.

He also noted that former President George W. Bush's 2010-2015 plan allowed for more lease sales in the eastern Gulf, off California's coast, and in Alaska. "How does excluding all these areas in your proposed 2012-2017 plan best meet our national energy needs?" he asked in his letter.

The new proposal also calls for two sales in Arctic waters off Alaska’s coast, but they are not scheduled until 2015 and 2016.

Vitter also asked whether the administration would be willing to reconsider opening more areas for leasing, and how a plan that provides about a dozen lease sales per year helps the U.S. meet its energy needs.

"As the National Ocean Industries Association points out, 'A Five Year Plan for the Outer Continental Shelf is the most important and defining action an administration takes in providing new oil and gas resources for building economic prosperity in this country,' " Vitter wrote. "What your Five Year Plan provides is not merely a barrier to growing new jobs and economic prosperity, but ignores the true nature of our energy and economic needs."