A proposal by President Barack Obama, announced Wednesday, may jumpstart oil and gas drilling for the first time off the East coast, the Gulf of Mexico and parts of Alaska's coastline.

Pleasing the energy industry but angering environmentalists, Obama and Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said the increase in drilling would help the United States wean itself of foreign oil and move toward greener energy sources.

"In the short term, as we transition to cleaner energy sources, we've still got to make some tough decisions about opening new offshore areas for gas and oil development in ways that protect our communities and protect coastlines," Obama said, speaking from Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland. "This is not a decision I've made lightly."

The proposal, which Obama said has been in the works for more than a year, ends a longstanding ban on drilling of any kind in a 167 million mile-swath of ocean, from the northern tip of Delaware to Florida's central coast. Exploration will also begin 125 miles from Florida's coast in the Gulf of Mexico.

However, the Pacific coast will remain off-limits, along with environmentally sensitive Bristol Bay in Alaska and overfished waters in New England.

The proposal came following a court order requiring the Department of the Interior to make a decision on offshore oil leasing in Alaska by Wednesday.

Obama said the proposal has made allowances for areas important to tourism, national security and the environment, and that new technology would be used to reduce drilling's environmental effects.

"The answer is not drilling everywhere all the time," Obama said in an event at Andrews Air Force Base. "But the answer is not, also, for us to ignore the fact that we are going to need vital energy sources to maintain our economic growth and our security."

However, the proposal has already drawn fire from analysts, as well as environmental supporters who say Obama has gone against his campaign pledges of 2008.

"Drilling our coasts will doing nothing to lower gas prices or create energy independence," said Michael Brune, executive director of the Sierra Club, to the New York Times. "It will only jeopardize beaches, marine life, and coastal tourist economies."

Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell took the middle ground in the drilling debate, calling . Obama's proposal "a step in the right direction, but a small one that leaves enormous amounts of American energy off limits."

Congress will have to take further steps before drilling could begin.