On second thought

THE OBAMA administration announced last week that it will not allow "scoping" of the Atlantic Coast and the eastern Gulf of Mexico for offshore drilling, preventing oil exploration there for at least seven more years. This reverses a decision President Obama made in March to examine these areas for potential drilling, with oil companies possibly bidding for leases sometime between 2012 and 2017. What changed in nine months?

One obvious answer: Shortly after Mr. Obama's March announcement, the Deepwater Horizon rig blew up. That should have changed, and did change, administration calculations about drilling safety and inspection inadequacy. But the administration isn't shutting down domestic offshore drilling; on the contrary, it lifted its post-spill moratorium on drilling in the western and central gulf, where oil companies have been operating for decades, earlier than scheduled. Administration officials have said that they are increasingly confident that risks are low enough to allow drilling to proceed, and regulation will be only more stringent.

So why reinstate a ban in the Atlantic or the eastern gulf? Interior Secretary Ken Salazar says his department wants to use its "critical resources" to supervise areas in which rigs already are operating. One translation: The administration won't waste time scoping off the Gulf Coast of Florida as long as Congress maintains its own ban on drilling there. But that doesn't explain the reversal for the Atlantic Coast. Both Democratic and Republican governors of Virginia have expressed support for careful exploration.

Environmental groups and liberals dismayed in March that the president endorsed a GOP-friendly policy without securing anything in return are happier now. But policy considerations haven't changed. America will require oil for years, and a lot of it will come from undersea wells - off Brazil, Nigeria and Azerbaijan if not the United States. Mr. Obama's about-face may make some Americans feel better, but it's unlikely to be a net plus for energy independence or the global environment.