Feds to halt coastal drilling plan

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar is putting the brakes on a Bush administration plan to open the Atlantic and Pacific coasts —- including Georgia’s —- to oil and natural gas drilling, while promising a “new way forward” for offshore wind projects.

Salazar on Tuesday criticized the Bush administration’s “drill-only approach,” saying the U.S. needs a comprehensive energy plan that considers all the potential resources in the oceans.

“I intend to do what the prior administration failed to do … incorporate the great potential for wind, wave and ocean tides,” Salazar said.

According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration’s 30-year-old study, the latest it has, the Atlantic coast does not have great potential for either oil or natural gas production.

Turning wind energy into electricity could prove more fruitful. A 2007 estimate by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory said offshore wind could supply 20 percent to 50 percent of Georgia’s electrical needs, although at a higher cost than coal-produced electricity.

Atlanta-based Southern Co., Georgia Power’s parent company, is applying for a federal lease to further evaluate Georgia’s offshore wind potential.

Salazar said he would finish within two months the long-delayed rule to open federal waters for alternative energy projects. The U.S. does not currently have any offshore wind projects.

Mary Hunt, director of special projects for the Georgia Tech Strategic Energy Institute, which produced a feasibility study on Georgia’s offshore wind potential with Southern Co., said federal regulations have given preference to oil and gas over alternative energy.

“This is really great for the offshore alternative energy industry,” Hunt said. “The economic opportunities in this are huge.”

Under the Bush proposal, leases to drill for oil and natural gas on the Outer Continental Shelf —- from New England to Florida and off the length of California —- would have been made available in two to six years.

That’s two years faster than the normal process, Salazar said, a decision he said was made with no input and limited information about the energy resources available.

“In my view it was a headlong rush of the worst kind,” said Salazar, the Democratic senator from Colorado when President Barack Obama tapped him for the Interior post.

Salazar added 180 days to a comment period for offshore drilling that now ends Sept. 23.

He said he plans to involve governors and coastal communities.

In 45 days, he wants a report from the U.S. Geological Survey and Minerals Management Services on what offshore resources may be available.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.