Obama closes arctic coast to drilling.

• Position: Your Life - Brief article

The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management announced it will remove the Arctic Ocean from the offshore leasing program for the next five years, between 2017-22. The move is designed to protect areas containing wildlife habitat from new leasing activities. "Hitting the pause button on offshore drilling in the Arctic is exactly the right thing to do" says David Yarnold, president and CEO of the National Audubon Society, New York.

"Offshore drilling is a dirty and dangerous business, and removing the Arctic Ocean from the offshore leasing plan gives everyone time to think hard about how well water and oil mix. The [outgoing] Obama Administration understands that the productivity of our oceans is jeopardized when we drill in the wrong places. We should be thinking first about protecting ocean life and quickly moving to cleaner sources of...