|
When Obama Drills for Oil, it's Good
Sens. Jim Webb and Mark Warner both released statements that praised Obama today. "This is good news and a positive step forward as we work to expand our nation's domestic energy production," Warner said. "Moving forward on the mid-Atlantic off-shore proposal will provide an opportunity to determine the scope of our region's off-shore energy resources, the economic viability of accessing those resources, and the potential impacts on our environmental and national security priorities."Bush's plan was stoopid, anyway. Warner and Webb plan to partner up later this year to introduce a bill that would allow Virginia to release a share of the royalties. "This policy should be coupled with a fair and equitable formula for profit-sharing between the federal and state government in order to attract well-paying jobs to the Commonwealth and support a range of projects, from clean energy development to transportation infrastructure to coastal restoration," Webb said. But U.S. Rep. James P. Moran Jr. (D), who represents traffic-clogged Northern Virginia, argues that Congress has repeatedly rejected attempts by Atlantic Coast states to receive royalties. Congress? Cheat the states? "Drilling will have no impact on Virginia's transportation crisis anytime soon, even if a majority in Congress were to agree to give up future federal revenue,'' he said. "Oil and gas development off Virginia's coast will be a long and drawn-out process whose results will not be known for close to a decade." The last study of the Atlantic Ocean by the federal government, conducted two decades ago, estimated that at least 130 million barrels of oil and at least 1.14 trillion cubic feet of natural gas could be off Virginia's coast. That's equal to the amount of oil used in six days and the amount of gas used in less than a month in the United States. How many days worth of oil do we get from Venezuala? Environmental groups worry that possible spills and new infrastructure onshore and off could harm plants, animals, tourism and the naval base in Norfolk, the world's largest. When the enviros start to owrry about a naval base? Posted by: Bobby 2010-04-02 |
| http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=293828 |