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RICHMOND
Gov. Bob McDonnell has added his signature to legislation intended to further his goal of making Virginia the East Coast's energy center.
The bills signed Wednesday endorse federal efforts to develop gas and oil drilling off the Virginia coast, and direct royalties to the state's growing transportation needs. A portion would also go the Virginia Coastal Energy Research Consortium.
Interior Secretary Ken Salazar is expected to announce his decision soon on whether the government will move forward with the sale of oil and gas leases. The triangular tract 50 miles off of Virginia has an estimated 130 million barrels of oil and 1.1 trillion cubic feet of natural gas.
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Energy independance and abortion
Many folks on the left say they support abortion because it is justified in the case of rape, incest, or if the mother's life is in jeopardy. Strangely, they fail to mention that less than 1% of the millions of abortions performed in the United States every year are due to rape, incest, or the mother's life being in jeopardy. Taken in the case of American energy independance, many of these same folks oppose off shore drilling because of the possibility of some catastrophic oil-rig accident. Can these folks even site one case in recent history where a catastrophic oil-rig incident occured? To condemn off shore drilling because of a possible catastrophic incident which you have no recollection of ever occuring in recent history is about as silly as condoning the murder of millions of infants to satisfy a less than 1% demographic.
Q&A
Q: "Can these folks even site one case in recent history where a catastrophic oil-rig incident occurred?"
A. Yes. The second largest oil spill in history occurred in the Gulf of Mexico June 3, 1979–March 23, 1980.
More recently, Hurricanes Katrina and Rita resulted in about three-quarters of a million gallons of oil being spilled in the Gulf of Mexico in 2005.
no cigar
But what was not said is that no oil from a drilling rig was spilled during Katrina. The oil came from onshore facilities.
Cigar
According to the U.S Minerals Management Service, the number of offshore pipelines damaged was 457, and the number of offshore platforms destroyed was 113, with a total of 146 oil spills recorded in the Gulf of Mexico.
An additional 8 million gallons of oil were spilled from 9 onshore facilities. Do you suppose there would be no onshore facilities related to drilling offshore Virginia?
See http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/07/19/opinion/main4275167.shtml
Off-shore oil drilling
OFF-SHORE OIL DRILLING is not a new process.It is safely done and cleanly done everyday in the Gulf of Mexico.Why not off our coast.I don't want an oil spill or the beaches soaked with oil either.But something has to be done to control energy cost.NOW..not some thing that might help in 20 or 30 years...NOW..wake up people.we are making our enemies richer every hour,then they use the money to attack us.You people who do not beleive this need to take your heads out of the beautiful clean sand at the oceanfront.
How much will people embrace...
this bill when they have to close Virginia Beach oceanfront because of oil spills? Does anyone here remember Exxon Valdez, where the environment still hasn't recovered after 20 years?
Ever wonder why Florida doesn't allow drilling on their Atlantic coast? Too rough and too much risk from severe weather.
But hey, maybe the jobs governor is thinking there will be jobs cleaning up the oil spills?
A Tanker
Tilly Exxon Valdez is a tanker. Are you under the impression that oil tankers do not already come into Norfolk ?
A Tanker
Tilly Exxon Valdez is a tanker. Are you under the impression that oil tankers do not already come into Norfolk ?
Thank you Bob McDonnell
Thank you Bob McDonnell. This is a good first step toward energy independence for the United States starting right here in Virginia.
Too much to ask?
This press conference and release once again signifies the absolute victory of fairy tales over substance. There is no revenue for transportation, there is no right to this revenue if there were to Virginia, but the Governor clearly wants to appear to be doing something when in actual fact he is simply creating the appearance of action. In an administration that claims it wants to get back to the simple basics of governing, it is simply amazing that so many citizens are dazzaled by the glitz and ignore the reality. McDonnell told us he had a 26 point plan for transportation, and so far, he is batting .000, and further, he made no attempt to address it during this session, and is now backing off from ever addressing it. I have to admit, as Attorney General, he ran the best public relations office I have ever seen; now, he has simply continued that in the Governor's role. I guess Governance in the interest of Virginians is to much to ask.