American oil addiction

President Barack Obama faced a backlash from angry environmentalists after announcing he was opening up huge areas of American waters to oil and gas drilling.

Brendan Cummings, senior counsel at the Center for Biological Diversity said that the announcement was "all too typical of what we have seen so far from President Obama – promises of change, a year of 'deliberation,' and ultimately, adoption of flawed and outdated Bush policies as his own".

He added: "Rather than bring about the change we need, this plan will further our national addiction to oil and contribute to global warming, while at the same time directly despoiling the habitat of polar bears, endangered whales, and other imperilled wildlife."