The Virginian-Pilot
©
WASHINGTON
Gov. Timothy M. Kaine has stepped up efforts to persuade President Barack Obama to slow plans for oil and gas development off the Virginia coast, a shift panned earlier this month by Obama's interior secretary.
Virginia "policies do not support exploration for oil or production of gas or oil," Kaine asserted in a letter to Secretary Ken Salazar that was made public Tuesday. State law now backs only exploration for gas, he said.
The Democratic governor's missive underscores his break with Republicans in the state legislature on the drilling issue. Its release came as the state's most prominent offshore energy advocate, state Sen. Frank Wagner,
R-Virginia Beach, was making his case for drilling in testimony to a congressional committee.
Wagner said he learned of Kaine's letter late Monday, and "I almost felt a little bit ambushed." Kaine's stand "is not consistent with the majority of Virginians in their opinions," Wagner said.
Kaine spokesman Gordon Hickey said the governor simply restated a long-held position.
In late December, weeks before President George W. Bush left office, Kaine urged the Interior Department to put a hold on plans for offshore drilling and let the new president decide the issue.
The Republican administration ignored the request, pushing forward plans for offshore energy development off both coasts and in the Gulf of Mexico. Salazar announced a six-month delay in most of those plans earlier this month but said he was inclined to proceed with the Bush plan for sale of a lease off the Virginia coast.
In addition, Salazar ordered a study of potential economic benefits and environmental risks of offshore drilling.
Kaine's letter asks that sale of the Virginia lease also be postponed and urges Salazar "to consider the Atlantic coast as a whole, rather than singling out a particular state for a single lease."
Environmental activists voiced hope Tuesday that the governor's message will spur Salazar to reconsider.
"We can't have Virginia... just sitting all by itself" and open for drilling while the new administration does a more detailed study of the issue elsewhere, said Eileen Levandoski, conservation coordinator in Hampton Roads for the Sierra Club.
"There's a tremendous amount of study that needs to be done," she said.
After a 25-year moratorium on offshore drilling imposed by Congress and a series of presidents, "we just don't have the data" to decide on leases now, said Deborah Murray, a lawyer at the Southern Environmental Law Center in Charlottesville.
Wagner used his appearance before the House Natural Resources Committee to tout drilling as a boost for the ailing national economy. Offshore energy development "would go a long way towards restoring American economic vitality," he sai d.
Pilot writer Julian Walker contributed to this report.
Dale Eisman, (703) 913-9872, dale.eisman@pilotonline.com
Delicious
Digg
Reddit
Facebook
Twitter
Google
Yahoo
thanks, david
i can now take off my foil hat and put away my conspiracy theorist handbooks ;>)
the simplest explanation is usually the best/correct.
Hope everyone gets to feeling better.
Delayed comments -- sorry
Note to readers: Because of illness, the site was unstaffed during the day Wednesday. Comments that were posted last evening were not approved until the night producer came in in the late afternoon today, and by then there were several hundred to get through. We get to them as quickly as we can. We'll be poorly staffed for the next few days, most likely. David M. Putney, PilotOnline
johnbo
how correct. All but two of the comments were delayed (mine by 23hrs, 12mins) until the tag fell off the front of the webpage to reduce visibility of dissenting views. All were anti-Dems, pro-exploration. Guess we know where the "vigorously defending the first amendment" Pilot stands. Wonder if this will disappear into the ethers? Posted at 1903 on 2/25.
Let's see how long it is till I am
Censored by the Pilot on this one since I disagree with the Media Darling. I guess they are like most of the Democratic Party and the Baised Media slobbering over Obama.
See this is Just what we warned you about
The Democratic party NEVER INTENDED to allow any exploration or drilling of our own shores, this was just another LIE perpetrated on the American public to get Liberals elected. They DO NOT ACTUALLY CARE at all about the middle class American all they are interested in is expanding the federal Government and getting more and More hard working people dependant on the Federal Government to survive. This is how they feel they will be able to stay in power by offering more HANDOUTS and Welfare to People instead of trying to help them become self sufficient. Heck in one slight of the pen NOBAMA whipped out the advances we made in the last 16 yrs on ending the dependency cycle on welfare. Now if they can do this so easily then what makes you think they really care about getting us as a country to be energy independent, This is an oxymoron to anyone with half a brain but Liberals still keep coming back to the table for more Kool-aid and LIP service. The only difference in how this country is being destroyed is at least one Clinton got a service for his decisions. Welcome to the change you Liberals voted for. HAHAHA
Offshore Drilling
Drill for oil and gas development off the Virginia coast now and many thousand times. The governor is just one politician who, for some reason, won't listen to the citizens of Virginia.
Offshore Drilling
WASHINGTON, Feb 23 (Reuters) - Expanding energy exploration and production to U.S. offshore areas that were off limits until recently could result in more than a trillion dollar goverment windfall and millions of new jobs, a report said on Monday.
Well! We certainly don't need that, now do we?
http://uk.reuters.com/article/marketsNewsUS/idUKN2027942920090223
Obama's little buddy
Gov. Kaine and the democrats are not about America, they are about democrats. There is no reason at all that why we can't have off shore drilling.
Drill here, drill now. Let's
Drill here, drill now. Let's get back in the game America!
Ask yourself this question.
In the aftermath of Katrina, how many oil spills did you see? The answer to that question is NONE. Keep in mind that hundreds of OIL rigs were pulled from their mooring or completely destroyed. It's called modern technology, it's what makes drilling for oil safe for the environment. Now the next question to ask. When was the last time you saw an OIL spill caused by natural GAS? Answer to that question, NEVER. Natural gas is not oil and even when is seeps from the ocean floor, it dissipates in the atmosphere. Natural gas is what is mostly off the VA coast. There's not too much oil off our coast, but a lot of gas. Now that you know it would be safe how would you like to have YOUR taxes reduced thanks to the royalties paid for the offshore gas? Ummm! That sounds good to me! Let's get the exploration going NOW! Then when it starts to flow in a few years, we'll finally get a break from tax increases. Maybe the whining liberals will read some facts instead of drinking koolaide.