The plan, announced Wednesday, would expand oil and natural gas drilling to the Atlantic Coast, parts of the eastern Gulf of Mexico and areas in Alaska.

"I think this is a significant and important step forward, something that surely will help us as a country to produce more of our own energy," Marvin Odum, president of Shell Oil Co., said at a news conference to announce the start of production at a key deep water Gulf facility.

Odum said Shell was "absolutely ready to drill in terms of infrastructure and manpower" in Alaska and suggested that activity could start there within 10 weeks, The Times of London online reports.

"Ideally we would aim to drill two to three wells this summer in the Chukchi and Beaufort seas," he said, adding that Shell wanted to optimize the summer's ice-free period.

American Petroleum Institute President and Chief Executive Officer Jack Gerard welcomed Obama's announcement as a "positive development."

"Exploring for and developing our nation's offshore resources could help generate more than $1 trillion in revenues and create thousands of jobs to add to the already 9.2 million jobs supported by today's oil and natural gas industry," Gerard said in a statement.

"It's a constructive step," said Lamar McKay, chairman of BP America, according to The Times. "We believe the industry has a strong track record of performance in the Gulf of Mexico and are confident that development can be done elsewhere in the same safe and environmentally sensitive manner while creating needed jobs."

While drilling wouldn't be allowed from New Jersey north, areas from Delaware south could be developed under the plan. Opponents in New Jersey say that pollution from a spill or other accident in the Mid-Atlantic region could ruin its beaches.

U.S. Sen. Frank R. Lautenberg, D-N.J., said the state's beaches and beach towns generate some $50 billion a year, employing nearly 500,000 people.

"Giving Big Oil more access to our nation's waters is really a 'Kill, Baby, Kill' policy: it threatens to kill jobs, kill marine life, and kill coastal economies that generate billions of dollars," The Philadelphia Inquirer reported Lautenberg, a member of the Senate's Environment and Public Works Committee, as saying.

Sen. Tom Carper, D-Del., was cautiously positive toward the plan. He noted that he supported the president's efforts to increase the domestic oil and natural gas supply if it could be done in "an environmentally feasible manner ... which I believe is possible."

As for environmental groups, most strongly oppose the plan.

"Drilling our coasts will doing nothing to lower gas prices or create energy independence," Sierra Club Executive Director Michael Brune said in a statement. "It will only jeopardize beaches, marine life and coastal tourist economies, all so the oil industry can make a short-term profit.

"We can achieve real energy independence and economic vitality by investing in clean energy like wind and solar and efficiency. This kind of power creates good, lasting American jobs and positions our nation to become a global leader in the new clean energy economy."

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