( - promoted by JRTOLBERT)
Gov. McDonnell may finally be granted his wish to open waters off Virginia to oil and gas exploration as the U.S House remains on schedule to vote on a bill that could do just that.
The Republican majority U.S. House has set out to undo President Obama's decision to halt plans to allow gas and oil exploration in U.S. waters off the East Coast.
Gas and oil exploration in the waters off Virginia are part of Gov. McDonnell's "vision" to establish an energy capital in Virginia.
However, this goal might be little more than the usual political bluster. At present, Virginia imports most of its energy and therefore even if oil and natural gas are found in waters off Virginia, it's not clear how much this would benefit McDonnell's "vision."
As the Virginia Director of the Sierra Club, Glen Besa, noted, the U.S. should be investing in public transportation and more fuel efficient, alternatively fueled, vehicles instead of gas and oil exploration.
Here again, though, McDonnell is putting the interests of his campaign and Party contributors ahead of all other Virginians.
Oil and gas exploration has proven time and again to be an unsafe enterprise, one whose uncertainties were catastrophically demonstrated during the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. We shouldn't have to learn the same devastating lessons twice.
Clean and renewable energy is the future, but it has to start with a genuine effort in that direction today. |
