Obama Opening up East and Gulf Coasts to Offshore Drilling — by Bill Paul

Yesterday’s announcement by Obama that he’s opening up East and Gulf coasts to offshore drilling is very good news, insofar as it will drive increased visibility of the imperatives for renewable energy.  Coming on the heels of Obama’s announcement of federal loan guarantees for new nuclear power units, this now sets the stage for a strong administration push for climate change legislation by the fall — not that it will be called that, given how politically-charged that phrase has become. Obama is giving more moderate Republicans, especially SC Sen. Lindsey Graham, what they want and need to support a bill that is expected to include, for the first time ever, some sort of cap on carbon dioxide emissions. Exactly what that cap will look like and which companies and industries it will impact most will be the source of a lot of political haggling in the weeks and months to come.

In short, what everyone thought was dead, at least for this year, now seems very much alive. With healthcare out of the way, climate change legislation (which they’ll probably call energy legislation) should become the new buzz in Washington. On Wall Street, everyone’s going to wonder how this will affect different companies and industries, which is where we come in.

Separately, take a look at this recent Reuters story, specifically in the 3rd paragraph the mention of growing “institutional interest” in alternative energy. This too is good news.