WASHINGTON, Nov. 9 (UPI) -- Washington missed a chance to boost the economy with an offshore oil and gas lease program, critics say, but some skeptics said it was a good first step.
U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar announced a proposed five-year lease program for oil and gas development on the Outer Continental shelf. The proposal calls for 12 lease sales in the Gulf of Mexico and three off the Alaskan coast.