Gulf oil spill gets attention at Norfolk meeting on drilling

NORFOLK

The political fallout from a massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico struck Virginia hard Thursday.

At a public meeting in Norfolk, environmentalists argued that the accident illustrates why drilling off the Virginia coast should be rejected.

"A spill even a fraction of the one in the Gulf would devastate our coastal environment," said Eileen Levandoski, Hampton Roads director of the Sierra Club, an environmental group.

In Richmond, meanwhile, Gov. Bob McDonnell urged that oil and natural-gas drilling at least 50 miles off Virginia continue moving forward as outlined last month by President Barack Obama.

"What you don't want to do, obviously, is every time you have an incident in a coal mine or if an airplane were to go down, we certainly don't say, 'Well, let's stop flying,' " McDonnell told reporters at a news conference. "What we do as Americans is find out what went wrong and how can we do things better."

His energy adviser, Maureen Matsen, delivered a similar message at the meeting in Norfolk, where officials from the federal Minerals Management Service were accepting public comments on proposed seismic research in advance of possible oil and gas drilling off Virginia, North Carolina and elsewhere on the Outer Continental Shelf of the Atlantic Ocean.

Matsen called the Gulf spill "tragic," then added, "but we cannot let this setback deter us from pursuing this offshore industry off the coast of Virginia."

While debate about the spill dominated the meeting, such comments were not germane to the matter at hand - developing an environmental impact study of what seismic testing might do to the mid-Atlantic and South Atlantic, said Casey Rowe, a Minerals Management Service coordinator.

That study, Rowe said, will focus on how different testing techniques might affect coastal environments, commercial fishing, deep-water creatures, dolphins, whales, sea turtles, military training and archaeological sites, among other factors. The study should be completed by mid-2012, he said.

Seismic research, if permitted, is supposed to provide scientific information not gathered in almost 30 years about how much oil, gas and other resources may lie at the bottom of the Atlantic.

However, as Rowe pointed out, the research might not be ready when the federal government decides whether to let energy companies bid for oil and gas leases off the Virginia coast, as proposed to take place next year or in early 2012.

In that case, he said, the leasing might go ahead with old data collected in the 1970s.

About 100 people attended an afternoon meeting at the Hilton Norfolk Airport hotel. A second meeting was scheduled Thursday night.

Opponents of offshore drilling outnumbered supporters. Most critics wore lapel stickers that read, "Wrong for Virginia."

Matt Walker, representing the Outer Banks Surfrider Foundation, said he opposes seismic testing as well as offshore drilling.

Jobs and revenue on North Carolina's Outer Banks "all come from a clean beach," Walker said. "We hear a lot of, 'Oh, don't worry, don't worry.' But now, look what happened in the Gulf."

Mike Ward, Virginia director of the American Petroleum Council, described the Gulf spill as "the rarest of industrial accidents."

He urged seismic research begin as soon as possible.

"We need to find out where the oil and natural gas is located," Ward said. "Is it oil? Is it gas? Is it both? Is it neither?"

Staff writer Julian Walker contributed to this report.

Scott Harper, (757) 446-2340, scott.harper@pilotonline.com