White House caves on off-shore oil drilling in Alaska

Just breaking...

From TheHill "Under pressure on gas prices, Obama shifts on domestic drilling"

President Obama announced Saturday the government would hold annual onshore lease sales in Alaska’s National Petroleum Reserve; extend the life of leases in the Gulf of Mexico and in some areas off the coast of Alaska for one year; speed up ongoing Interior Department testing in the mid- and south-Atlantic to gauge the level of resources; and establish an interagency task force to coordinate permitting for offshore drilling in Alaska.

From Ed Morrissey at HotAir.com:

After five months of escalating political heat, Obama finally decided that we could drill our way out of our problems — or at least his problems...

the fact that Obama had to protect himself in this manner shows how politically damaging his refusal to expand American production has become, and how damaging it will continue to be.

Photo credit - LA Times 2009