 Here's an LTE appearing in today's Virginian-Pilot:
Gubernatorial candidate Bob McDonnell has erred in touting offshore drilling for oil and gas as a way to replenish state coffers. Federal law limits the sharing of oil and gas revenue to the Gulf states of Louisiana, Texas, Mississippi and Alabama. According to all reports, Congress is not likely to expand this program. In fact, the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee has rejected a proposal to expand the program.
So, even if one supports oil and gas drilling, it would be erroneous to do so on the grounds that the commonwealth would benefit from any of the revenue.
Despite McDonnell's public statements to the contrary, offshore oil and gas drilling in Virginia is not 'already set.' The U.S. Minerals Management Service has only just begun to review a potential lease sale in Virginia; thus no decision has been made.
The Southern Environmental Law Center opposes a potential lease sale in Virginia because the minuscule amount of oil and gas it would yield is simply not worth the enormous consequences that the drilling would have on commercial and sport fishing, coastal tourism and ocean life, including endangered whales and turtles. (Not to mention that the area in question overlaps with sensitive Department of Defense and NASA operations in the Atlantic.)
Rather, federal and state leaders should be focusing time and money on developing noncarbon based energy sources including the tremendous offshore wind potential that Virginia has.
Marirose Pratt, Charlottesville |
