The Obama administration has reversed a decision to open the Atlantic and Gulf coasts to offshore oil and gas drilling, but maintained its stance to allow drilling in Alaska. President Obama initially unveiled the plan in March, just weeks before the BP oil spill that became the largest in U.S. history. On Wednesday, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said the drilling would not be allowed anywhere along the East Coast and the eastern Gulf of Mexico as part of the next five-year energy plan. But Salazar said Arctic drilling will proceed, including the oil giant Shell’s project off the coast of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. In a statement, the Center for Biological Diversity said, "There is no excuse for continuing to consider drilling in polar bear critical habitat off the coast of Alaska. If the risk of an oil spill is too great for Florida, it is also certainly too great for Alaska."