Obama, Oil, and Clean Energy

“Drill, baby, drill!” was the Republican cry in the ’08 presidential campaign.

Now it’s President Barack Obama moving to open up offshore drilling for oil and natural gas, from the Atlantic coastline and the Gulf of Mexico to the north coast of Alaska.

The president calls offshore drilling a “bridge” to a clean energy future.  Environmentalists want less. Oil companies and Republicans want more.

The White House appears to want enough to get the votes to pass a climate change bill. And maybe a little political cover.

This Hour, On Point:  Offshore drilling and Obama’s energy agenda.Guests:

Juliet Eilperin, national environmental reporter for The Washington Post. She reported on President Obama's announcement yesterday that his administration will open up offshore drilling for oil and gas.

Amy Jaffe, director of the Energy Forum at Rice University's Baker Institute for Public Policy.

Nick D'Arbeloff, president of the New England Clean Energy Council. He's a veteran entrepreneur and a representative of The Climate Project, which promotes awareness about the science underlying global climate change.

Joshua Freed, director of the Clean Energy Initiative at Third Way, a progressive think tank. He spent five years working for the House Energy and Commerce Committee, and he advised Barack Obama during the presidential campaign. You can read his latest thinking in a new piece in Forbes: “The Global Green Energy Race."