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President Obama announced yesterday that his administration will allow large areas off the United States’ East Coast and the eastern gulf of Mexico to be open for oil and gas drilling. The plan calls for exploration into the newly opened areas, and studies on the effects of explorations within Alaskan waters. In his speech the President said that his administration is committed to new sources of renewable energy, but that opening new sites for drilling was necessary in the short run to sustain economic growth. Criticism from both the right and the left followed on the heels of his speech. Greenpeace Executive Director Phil Radford said, “Is this President Obama’s clean energy plan or Palin’s ‘Drill Baby Drill’ campaign?” Jacqueline Savitz of Oceana said simply, “We are appalled…” From the right, Washington Republican Congressman Doc Hastings said, the plan is “…[an] attempt to pull the wool over out eyes because it actually close[s] more areas than it open[s]” — a sentiment that was echoed in a reaction statement given by Republican Mike Pence of Indiana.

GUEST: Antonia Juhasz, Director of the True Cost of Chevron Program at Global Exchange, and author of The Tyranny of Oil: The World’s Most Powerful Industry–and What We Must Do to Stop It