Obama freezes new offshore drilling

AFP - The White House indicated Friday that new domestic offshore oil drilling will be on hold until the investigation of the Gulf of Mexico disaster is complete.

White House senior adviser David Axelrod told ABC's "Good Morning America" that President Barack Obama "is not going to continue the moratorium on drilling but... no additional drilling has been authorized and none will until we find out what happened here and whether there was something unique and preventable here."

Axelrod said no new offshore drilling will go forward until "there is an adequate review of what happened here and what is being proposed elsewhere."

Obama earlier this year proposed a new policy that open tracts of waters off the Virginia, Alaska and Florida coasts to exploration.

Officials said this was long-term process that was already set to include years of environmental, commercial and scientific study.