Obama administration: No drilling off Virginia for 7 years

The Obama administration announced Wednesday that it will not allow any drilling for oil and gas off the Virginia coast until at least 2017, a move rooted in the record oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico earlier this year.

In outlining the decision, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said the moratorium will also include waters off North Carolina and the rest of the Atlantic, as well as a large swath of the eastern Gulf off Florida.

The move is a reversal for President Barack Obama, a Democrat who said in March that he would grant oil and natural gas leases at least 50 miles off the Virginia coast as early as 2011.

Salazar said more time is needed to analyze the Deepwater Horizon accident in April, which led to the largest oil spill in U.S. history, and to install new safeguards and tougher regulations.

"A lot of science needs to be developed," he said.

Gov. Bob McDonnell, who campaigned last year for offshore drilling, said Wednesday that he was "extremely disappointed" in the policy shift, adding that it will cost jobs and slow movement toward energy independence.

"This is an irresponsible and short sighted decision," the Republican governor said in a statement. "It demonstrates a complete lack of confidence in the entrepreneurial spirit of American industry and its ability to fix the problems experienced in the Gulf spill, and no confidence in the ability of the U.S. government to better plan for and react to offshore emergencies."

Business groups and energy companies also criticized the turnabout.

So, too, did Virginia Sens. Mark Warner and Jim Webb, both Democrats.

"While it is appropriate to take the time to incorporate lessons learned from the Gulf disaster, Senator Warner sees no reason to delay this process for what realistically could be another seven years," said his press secretary, Kevin Hall.

Warner, Hall added, would work with McDonnell, other state and local officials, and the Virginia congressional delegation "to explore ways to re-examine this decision."

Virginia Beach Congressman-elect Scott Rigell and House Majority Leader-elect Rep. Eric Cantor, both Republicans, said they hoped to overturn or soften the new policy.

"We can and must do better to safely and responsibly develop our nation's energy potential," said Cantor, from Northern Virginia.

Environmental groups, on the other hand, were thrilled.

"This is very welcome news indeed," said Deborah Murray, senior attorney for the Southern Environmental Law Center in Charlottesville. "We have been opposed for years to drilling in the Atlantic, which holds meager oil reserves yet provides billions in fishing and tourism revenue to coastal communities."

"The only way to truly keep our coast and ocean ecosystems safe is to keep them rig-free," said Sarah Driscoll, a spokeswoman for Environment Virginia.

In May, six weeks after the Gulf spill began, Obama cancel ed plans for drilling off the Virginia coast, but McDonnell and others had hoped the president would not completely close the door.

Prospects were further dimmed, though, when the Department of Defense released a report saying that three-fourths of proposed lease sites off Virginia should be off-limits because they would interfere with military operations and training.

On Wednesday, Salazar said the Interior Department will allow environmental analyses to move forward to determine whether seismic testing can be done safely off Virginia and the rest of the Atlantic coast.

Seismic surveys could help estimate how much oil and natural gas might be found beneath the Outer Continental Shelf.

Environmental groups are worried about this concession and say seismic activity, including the use of air guns, could harm marine mammals and other aquatic life.

"I'm concerned where this may lead us," said Murray. "Our position is that it's just not worth it."

She and other environmentalists said the move Wednesday could lead to a permanent ban on offshore drilling in the Atlantic.

They reasoned that, by the time oil and gas leases are debated again, after 2017, alternative energy sources such as wind and solar power might be established enough that the nation will be less reliant on fossil fuels.

Under the policy announced Wednesday, the government will let oil and gas leases in the western and central Gulf of Mexico move forward, and it will honor existing leases in the Arctic Ocean off Alaska.

But Salazar said additional drilling in Alaska "is under careful review and consideration by the department."

Pilot writer Julian Walker contributed to this report.

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