McDonnell Calls On Congress to OK Offshore Drilling

By Alissa Smith, Virginia Statehouse News Friday, May 06, 2011

RICHMOND — As the U.S. House of Representatives voted to overturn a ban on offshore drilling, Gov. Bob McDonnell on Thursday stood among the gas pumps at a local filling station to demand that offshore oil and gas play a vital role in the nation’s energy policy.

McDonnell said that offshore reserves of gas and oil are needed now. Standing in front of a Shell station in Richmond’s West End, he said Congress needs to step in and force the administration of President Barack Obama to again allow offshore drilling.

“We can’t wait ‘til 2017 and beyond to have a coherent energy policy that includes offshore resources. We need the jobs now. We need to ratchet down $4-a-gallon of gas now, and we need to pass these bills in the United States Congress now,” McDonnell said.

Obama signed an executive order halting drilling after the British Petroleum oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico in April 2010.

Gas prices in the state increased about $1 a gallon during the past year, which McDonnell said is unacceptable.

According to AAA, the average price for a gallon of gas in Virginia on Thursday was $3.88. One year ago, it was $2.82.

Delegate Jimmie Massie, R-Henrico, said local retailers have noticed a crimp in sales during the past month as gas prices have quickly increased. The cost of their goods and shipping also increases, reducing profits and making local businesses less likely to add jobs, he said.

Lack of a national energy police caused the high prices, which are hurting families and distressing businesses, Massie said.

McDonnell said speculation, over-reliance on foreign oil and the weak exchange rate of the American dollar were to blame for the rising prices. He called for the country to reduce its dependence on foreign oil.

“We need to use all of our resources to the benefit of the American consumer,” he said.

He praised the U.S. House vote in support of a resolution that would allow the federal government to lease its watery territory to the state for oil and gas drilling. Although the same resolution has little chance of passing in the Democrat-led U.S. Senate, McDonnell said it still sends a message to the administration that a comprehensive energy plan should include drilling off the East Coast.

The state was expecting to sign a lease for offshore exploration and drilling in 2012 until Obama called a halt to all offshore drilling.

McDonnell said arguments that it would take years before any Virginia drills would produce any oil were laughable.

“If we’d have started this 10 years ago, we wouldn’t be having this conversation today,” he said.

He also pledged that any drills built off the state’s coast would adhere to the strictest safety standards to prevent a similar disaster to the BP oil spill, and that the state would take advantage of new technology and lessons learned from the Gulf disaster.

McDonnell even alluded to the Sierra Club, which had stationed protesters on a sidewalk next to the Shell station, saying that he agreed with the group that offshore wind power should play a role in filling the nation’s energy needs.

But wind power will not fuel automobiles. Petroleum will continue to be the main source of fuel for cars and trucks, McDonnell said.

J.R. Tolbert, with the Sierra Club of Virginia, said that McDonnell’s energy policy is the same policy the nation has relied on for 35 years — more extraction of coal and oil.

“To say that there’s not an opportunity for us to be able to use wind power to reduce our reliance on fossil fuels is really very par for the course for this governor. This governor ignored real 21st century solutions for the pain we feel at the pump when we fill up,” Tolbert said.

The country needs to wean itself from petroleum by developing high-efficient vehicles and relying on modern bio-fuel technologies — not fuel its addiction with new sources of oil, he said.

“We need policies that actually encourage smart growth and encourage us to have alternatives to having to drive. We need to invest in transit. We need to invest in rail,” he said, noting that the governor’s $4 billion transportation plan plays a role in the state’s energy consumption. “Laying more road isn’t going to reduce the pain at the pump for Virginians.”

The state should also provide incentives for consumers to buy hybrid vehicles or to install solar panels on their homes, but such ideas have been shot down in the General Assembly, said Delegate Scott Surovell, D-Fairfax.

Drilling also puts at risk the state’s fisheries and tourism assets, and gives the military another reason to reduce its fleet in the Norfolk area, Surovell said.

“Drilling isn’t going to produce anything for the state for 10 years. By then we might not even be driving cars that run on gas,” Surovell said.

He called the vote by the U.S. House a diversionary tactic and not a real solution. Domestic production has very little impact on the global demand for oil from booming countries like China, which increases prices, he said.