McDonnell: Va. ‘eager to get started’ on offshore drilling
Gov.-elect writes letter to Secretary of Interior to push ’11 lease sale
Staff Report
McDonnell online: www.bobmcdonnell.com
Gov.-elect Bob McDonnell today released a letter that he sent last week to Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar cautioning against any delay in a scheduled 2011 lease sale involving drilling interests off the Virginia coast.
The letter comes as published reports have Salazar considering a revision to federal policy regarding drilling dating back to the Bush administration. McDonnell made offshore drilling a key part of his 2009 gubernatorial campaign as a way of providing revenues for transportation-system improvements.
“More than fifteen months have passed since the United States Congress allowed the federal moratorium on exploration and development of oil and natural gas resources off the Atlantic Coast to expire, and President Bush repealed a similar executive order banning such action. This cleared the way for Virginia to be the first state on the Atlantic seaboard to explore and drill beginning in 2011. Virginia is eager to get started,” wrote McDonnell in the Dec. 23 letter.
The letter noted that the public-comment period on the lease sale ended more than a year ago. “Unfortunately it appears that virtually no progress has been made at the federal level to get this process rolling,” McDonnell wrote.
“I am requesting that Virginia remain in the current five-year plan and that the federal administrative process move forward with Lease Sale 220 immediately. Any effort to remove or delay Virginia’s participation in the lease sale would significantly hamper our efforts to create jobs, eliminate much-needed new revenue, and undermine support for President Obama’s stated commitment to make the United States more energy secure,” McDonnell wrote.
McDonnell pledged in the letter to make offshore-energy exploration and production – including drilling for oil and natural gas and the development of offshore wind farms – “a priority in my administration.”
“I would like to work with you and the president to make Virginia an international leader in offshore energy exploration and production on the Atlantic coast. It is important for both our Commonwealth and our country,” McDonnell wrote.
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Another one of those “drill baby drill” – without understanding of negative and endless effects on the Environment
It’s going to be fun to watch McDonnell and the Republicans beat the administration like a drum on this issue.
Give drilling a chance.
What’s more important, people or the environment?
Don’t you trust us to be good for the environment? Why not? C’mon guys, give us a chance.
“What’s more important, people or the environment?”
People live IN the environment – they are one and the same. Destroy the environment and you destroy people. The question is – What’s more important, people and the environment, or oil profits? The people of Virginia will not have cheaper gas prices (as this is a product of global production and will not change one wit by the puny amount drilled off the coast). Instead they run the risk of having their coast (and tourism economy) destroyed for short term profits for rich oil companies.
Mr McDonnell, I know you are eager to get started, but why don’t you unwind first with a vacation. Might I suggest Galveston, TX or even Corpus Christi. They’re right along the Gulf Coast like Tampa, FL yet strangely no one ever wants go there just because of some silly oil pollution. At any rate the oil rigs and one room shacks in Galveston will give you a preview of the lovely views Virginians can expect from their coastline if you get your way.
You people should shut up and cut off all power usage until you die of starvation, . You worry about your own state and let us Virginians worry about our own……Stupid naive people.
And the Republican attempt to reverse the tide of environmental and social progress begins.
I am Virginian, “Virginian”. You and your ilk can keep you damn hands off of my sons’ natural heritage. There has never been off shore drilling in VA, thank God, and yet I some how manage to have food AND electricity on my computer to type this.
Wow…good to see some emotion. I only wish some of that energy (people energy, not oil energy) could be diverted to local issues and politics, where it might actually make an impact.
It’s a shame that Virginian Republicans have long since abandoned the practice of nominating moderates for statewide office. A Republican governor such as Schwarzenegger who is actually concerned about the environment isn’t the worst thing in the world, especially when paired with a Democratic-controlled state legislature.
There doesn’t need to be a single oil well offshore for McDonnell to win. Just asking and saying “Why not?” Let the administration trip over their tongues.
This oil-drilling idea dates back to the 1900′s. This is the 21st century. At this point, we have vast, longterm experiences with big oil companies, fossil fuels, the hazards of air and water pollution, environmental harm, oil wars, oil drilling, oil spills. We ought to have learned something about these subjects by now. Have we?
Many worldwide scientists have been working tirelessly on visionary, exciting, innovative, less-harmful and more efficient approaches to energy solutions, including geothermal. New technologies already exist. Japan has been a leader in solar and Denmark, wind power. In the past, Americans were known worldwide for being innovators. Where are our new ideas, American innovations and inventions? How will this idea help future generations?
In the meantime and in my view, we’d be wise to start asking lots of questions about this oil-drilling idea off the coast of Virginia. These might include: How will Virginians and Virginia taxpayers specifically benefit from this idea? What are the specific risks and potential consequences? What’s the fine print in this lease deal if something goes awry? Who’s going to pay for the monumental cost of drilling, an American oil company–or a foreign oil company? Or would this vast expenditure be a ‘public/private’ partnership deal in which taxpayers wind up paying to benefit the corporation? (For a well-researched, balanced look at corporate welfare, I recommend reading the book, “The Great American Jobs Scam” by Greg LeRoy.) Who would be responsible for paying for the clean-up of inevitable oil spills? Taxpayers? (Remember that Exxon was somehow exonerated from having to pay for the $billions of harm and destruction done by the Valdez, even though Exxon was responsible.) How much of this offshore oil would go to Virginians and American citizens? Or would this be just another product sold on the free market and earmarked for the U.S. military which is the largest oil customer in the world? Or would it go to the highest bidder among foreign customers, in which case, would foreign tankers be frequenting domestic waters off Virginia’s coastline? If so, what might be the implications of this situation and how much will port and coastline security cost Virginians? What about the impact on the Chesapeake Bay? Questions, questions. One definition of wisdom is the contemplation of consequences BEFORE making a decision.
You know what I find odd about many Republicans?
That they’ll use the “there’s evil men in the world…all men can’t be trusted, therefore you have to prepare for the worse ones” excuse for ramping up militarily anytime there’s an opportunity to be hawkish. But will reverse course when talking domestic economics and say, “you have to make it easy for the ultra-wealthy to make a profit so they’ll invest and spend, so’s a little bit of that will ‘trickle down’ (supply side BS) to the working man. Don’t worry you can trust them to look out for the betterment of mankind, the environment, etc,. Men are good”.
So can men be trusted or not?
Just pick a side…you know what ‘um saying?
I just happened to read most of the comments from both the opponents and supporters of drilling offshore of VA.
I would like to begin by saying it sounds like neither of you actually know anything about offshore drilling, the Health, Safety and Environment laws which are mandated on offshore vessels, or even the process or infrastructure of drilling, let alone offshore drilling specifically.
To say the least, do some research on everything regarding the facts, not just what you want to point out.
To conclude, Drilling (at least in civilized parts of the world) is not what you think it is in the sense of a black and white clip from the 1800′s of a ton of oil spewing out of the ground and a bunch of people dancing in it. I can say this because I worked offshore (yes, Galveston, the rest of TX, and LA), so please, unless you truly are a big-mouthed, ignorant child, do the rest of us taxpayers and stakeholders in society a favor and keep your illegitimate *opinions* to yourself. Do some research.
I’m all for offshore drilling. We have nearly 7 billion people on this planet and since people scream bloody murder if you dare mention birth control (and it’s too late to do anything about it anyway), POLLUTION is the only means left to reduce the surplus population. Mercifully, 400,000 Chinese die of pollution every year. So, I say, DRILL BABY DRILL!!