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Reaction Mixed to President Obama's Energy Plan

   Greg Flakus | Houston 05 April 2010
   An  operator  walks  by  main  oil  line  on  an offshore oil drilling
   platform  off  the  coast of California near Santa Barbara, California
   (File)

Photo: AP

   An  operator  walks  by  main  oil  line  on  an offshore oil drilling
   platform  off  the  coast of California near Santa Barbara, California
   (File)

   Last week President Obama announced plans to open currently off-limits
   areas  along  the US Atlantic and eastern Gulf of Mexico coastlines to
   oil  and  gas  exploration.  The  move  was  criticized by many of the
   president's  left-leaning supporters and some environmental groups. It
   met  with  only  tepid  support  from  the energy industry, where many
   people are wary of the administration's overall plans to take away tax
   incentives and give more funding to so-called alternative fuels.
   President  Obama  justified  his  plan  to  open more coastal areas to
   drilling  by  citing  the  need  to  reduce  oil  imports. But he also
   emphasized  the  need  to  move  away from dependence on oil and other
   hydrocarbons that are finite resources and also cause air pollution.
   "We have less than two percent of the world's oil reserves; we consume