"Pending in the House is a bill that would allow each state to explore for oil and gas if it chooses to."
And what does the state choose?
Virginia's legislative intent is to allow only for exploration occurring at least 50 miles offshore and only for natural gas. Obviously we have a conflict here between the state's wanting 50 miles off and only for natural gas vs. the fed's wanting 25 miles off and for both gas and oil. According to VP, "federal officials said leasing rules do not separate gas and oil exploration."
Also, the federally imposed moratorium on the Atlantic is "one size fits all" ... a blanket ban, if you will. But since the spring of 2006, Congress has been trying to punch holes in it. They are trying to gain support for lifting the ban by saying, "we want to lift the ban, but you states can decide that you want to reimpose the ban on yourself or perhaps decide to only apply the ban on oil, and allow for the drilling of natural gas." 100% a game of "bait and switch".
Because the moratorium is lifted nonetheless, which is their end goal. For what Congress is not telling you is that the state can only object to any drilling only after overcoming numerous hurdles to gain back drilling restrictions and they would have to keep fighting to keep those protections every five years. And to coerce states into accepting that drilling off their costs, the feds are offering fiscal incentives in the form of revenue sharing. That's revenue sharing in what is developed in the area within 25 miles of its shoreline.
Remember, the ban is lifted for the entire Atlantic coast. The Feds control everything past the 25 miles out line AND they have already sold off lease rights to big oil and gas companies to drill for oil and gas.
"Asked whether Virginia Natural Gas and other energy companies will make a push for drilling legislation before January, Cathie France, VNG's director of government affairs, said Tuesday, 'Oh yeah, we'll be very busy.'" Oh, yeah, they'll be gunning hard. Their job now is to quickly lobby House members to ignore pleas from the U.S. Senate to adopt the Senate's compromise plan that limits offshore drilling to just areas in the Gulf Coast and keeps the ban of Atlantic coast drilling in place.
They also need to sell their "bait and switch" plan on Governor Tim Kaine in hopes that he will agree to the lifting of the ban. But so far the Kaine administration is saying that the federal plan needs to be fixed to match the state plan. And if they can't match up, Virginia will pull its support of any offshore drilling.
This all seems not only suspect but also very bass-akwards to me. The draft EIS repeatedly indicates that there is most likely very little oil to be found off the Atlantic Coast with Virginia potentially reaping a small percentage of that small amount - in other words, very little of very little.
Plus, the development and processing of oil is way more risky to the environment. Again, the draft EIS describes a process whereby tankers would transport the oil from the offshore drilling rig to the onshore processing facility located in either Norfolk or Virginia Beach. It is in the transport of that oil where the greatest risk of oil spills occur which brings that potential oil spill all that much closer to the area of the Chesapeake Bay.
Plus, keep in mind... the leases that MMS is preparing to sell to big oil and gas companies has NO restrictions on drilling for either natural gas or oil. How does Thelma stop an oil and gas company that she's just sold a lease which allows them to explore and develop both oil and gas, allows them to set up huge expensive rigs and start exploring, and then when they discover oil, does she tell them to stop it up and move along? Is that really going to happen after they invested all that money into not only her re-election campaign coffers, but also the drilling exploration itself???
Why can't these be Thelma Drake's words... "Our beaches and our coastline is what is critical to Floridians," as declared Rep. Jim Davis, D-Fla. "We should not be sacrificing our economy, our environment for a little oil and gas." Are not Virginia's beaches and coastlines just a critical to us?
Again, Virginia needs to say "NO!" We are not going to be douped by these oil and gas companies. What little gas and oil is out there is just not worth the risk to our environment and our economy, to say little to our military's operations.
We need to tell Drake and her good buddy State Senator Frank Wagner to concentrate on renewable sources of energy instead. Their current pursuits are a complete waste of time and taxpayer resources.
Tell Thelma "NO" at http://www.house.gov.... Tell Wagner "NO" at district07@sov.state.va.us. CC: Governor Kaine with your message at governor@gov.state.va.us.
Tell the Feds "NO". Comments can be submitted through Nov. 24th online http://ocsconnect.mm... or mail to: Renee Orr, 5-year Program Manager, 381 Elden Street, MS 4010, Herndon, VA 20170