Obama to extend ban on drilling new deepwater oil wells

Virginia, Alaska lease sales to be canceled

By Debbi Wilgoren and Michael D. Shear
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, May 27, 2010

President Obama on Thursday will announce a six-month ban on drilling new deepwater oil wells, the White House said, and cancel plans for exploratory drilling and new lease sales off the coast of Alaska, as well as a proposed lease sale off the Virginia coast.

The clampdown on comes as the president prepares to make public the results of a 30-day safety review of off-shore drilling that was ordered after the calamitous explosion of an oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico. The resulting spill is creating the most serious environmental crisis in the United States in decades.

The latest effort to stop the flow of crude oil into the sea began Wednesday, and officials say they should know by Thursday afternoon whether it is taking effect.

Obama will hold a full East Room news conference on the oil spill Thursday afternoon -- his first such session with reporters in nearly a year.

(More here.)