The Virginian-Pilot
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The Democratic majority in Virginia's Senate killed for the year legislation from Virginia Beach Republican Sen. Frank Wagner that would dedicate future offshore drilling royalties to the state general fund, a coastal energy research consortium and to localities for transportation fixes.
Wagner carried SB601 on behalf of Gov. Bob McDonnell, whose transportation funding plan partly relies on money from drilling. It was defeated on a 22-18 party line vote Wednesday.
Noting that federal officials haven't approved drilling off Virginia's coast or decided how royalties would be disbursed, Senate Majority Leader Richard Saslaw, D-Fairfax County, called the bill "a fantasy" that seeks to dedicate dollars "the state is never going to see."
Wagner said actions at the state and federal level in recent years have put Virginia closer to being granted approval for offshore drilling. Rejecting the bill sends the wrong signal to Washington, he argued.
Later Wednesday, McDonnell called Senate Democrats "obstructionists" who displayed "rampant partisanship" by killing the bill.
A similar defeat likely awaits offshore drilling royalty legislation - HB756 - from Del. Chris Stolle, R-Virginia Beach, which previously passed the House of Delegates.
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Fantasy
"De Drill rig, Boss, De Drill Rig!!"
Gives a whole new slant to Shakespeare "Much Ado About Nothing"
No one in Virginia will ever see any income from off-shore drilling off Va.'s coast. It's just a fantasy source for Mickey Dee's road funding.
Observation
Perhaps the State Democrats are just copying the Republicans in Congress. Maybe they are trying to see how the State Republicans feel when the shoe is on the other foot. I didn't say it was 'right' nor fair.
Just an observation.
What color lenses do have in
What color lenses do have in your glasses?
Well, there are still a few
Well, there are still a few that are still drinking the Al Gore kool-aid on global warming. Just don't drink the yellow snow.
little royalties
Delaying the bill is a good sound idea. Virginia will get very little royalties from any oil found off shore. The land Virginia controls is very small and would see very little drilling. Virgina would get all the consequences and little benefit. There is nothing wrong with seeing how much money there is before dividing up the pot. Just another case of pro business republicans being pro business.
And let's deny the state
And let's deny the state more jobs and services. With all the social programs you think are your rights, this might pay for some of them.
There have been recent news
There have been recent news reports that water is becoming scarce. So some localities have built desalination plants and are selling water. If those reports have some merit, why doesn't Va build some desalinatiion plants and get in on the ground floor of that plan?
Excuse me
When thy find oil off the coast of Virginia shouldn't any royalties go towards the taxpayers of this state. Why would the federal government automatically assume that any money found from oil revenues is theirs to distribute. Praise the Dems, or Reps, but they all have one common goal any money seen is nothing more than a gleam in their eyes and the patrons who live and are taxed to death will never realize anything from offshore drilling. Environmentalist complain that the impact on the shores would be devastating we have had offshore oil rigs going for for over 80 years, no major problems have happened. We have allowed foreign fishing in our waters and they catch and kill more of our resources than anything that drilling for oil could ever possibly do. Keep letting our crooked leaders misrepresent you and throw a diverseness smoke-screen over our eyes to cloud their real purposes. We have dug a hole so deep right now with big government and overspending that we will never get out of it. Next to go will be all of the things we have bought and paid for pulled from our hands and we will be taxed even more.
Um, Horace
Maybe because the Outer Continental Shelf is federal land is the reason why the federal government issues offshore oil and gas leases
You are correct The state
You are correct The state only claims three miles. But the jobs and service they require would be at least a small boon to our economy.