Beach council supports oil, gas idea

VIRGINIA BEACH

City leaders support an idea backed by the governor that would explore drilling for oil and natural gas off the coast.

"If there's going to be money made from drilling for gas, I want the city of Virginia Beach to benefit, period," said Mayor Will Sessoms, who requested the measure.

Sessoms said he was asked by Gov. Bob McDonnell to discuss the issue with the City Council.

The council voted 8-3 in favor of the idea Tuesday. Vice Mayor Louis Jones, Councilwoman Barbara Henley and Councilman Harry Diezel voted no.

"I just don't see where

it's benefiting us," Jones said. "And the risk of damage to our shoreline and our relationship to the Navy compared to any benefit just doesn't seem worth it."

Council members noted that the Virginia Beach Hotel-Motel Association expressed support for offshore drilling exploration in a May letter.

McDonnell has been pushing for federal approval to open the Atlantic coast to drilling, which has been banned since the 1980s.

The governor, who has argued that money made by drilling could pay for transportation improvements, wants the U.S. Department of the Interior to approve new lease sales for drilling at least 50 miles offshore.

"Thousands of jobs ride on Virginia's opportunity to become the first state on the East Coast to explore for and produce energy offshore," said McDonnell's spokesman, Tucker Martin, in an e-mail. " The passage of a resolution by the City Council demonstrating support would be helpful in this effort."

Local Sierra Club official Eileen Levandoski, who spoke against drilling at Tuesday's meeting, said in an interview that the council should have waited until Sessoms' task force on alternative energy made a recommendation.

"It's a slap in the face to the task force," she said. "This whole thing just smells of political maneuvering."

Sessoms said his preference would have been to wait, but the governor asked for a resolution.

"This is the City Council showing support for the governor," Sessoms said.

On Monday, the state Senate approved a House bill from Del. Chris Stolle,

R-Virginia Beach, reserving the majority of any

future drilling royalties for transportation projects.

Resolutions are symbolic displays of support and have no legal power.

"These decisions are really going to be made a level well above City Council," Councilman John Uhrin said.

Aaron Applegate, (757) 222-5122, aaron.applegate@pilotonline.com