Salazar, McDonnell discuss Va. offshore oil
Gov. Bob McDonnell said he discussed offshore oil and gas exploration with Interior Secretary Ken Salazar on Wednesday, but he appears to be banking on the Congress to speed up energy exploration in waters off Virginia's coast.
McDonnell said he spoke "sort of informally" with Salazar on the subject during a stop in suburban Richmond by Salazar to announce funding for Civil War preservation. A planned Atlantic lease sale in 2012 was set back until at least 2017 because of the Gulf oil disaster.
The April 20, 2010, explosion off Louisiana killed 11 rig workers and led to more than 200 million gallons of oil spewing from a well a mile beneath the sea.
McDonnell, who has forcefully advocated for offshore exploration, said the issue is "very much bipartisan" with Sens. Mark Warner and Jim Webb, both Democrats, taking up Virginia's efforts to tap oil and gas deposits off the coast. They also have appealed to Salazar, urging him to also expand the proposed drilling area.
"I think it's a huge missed opportunity for energy independence," McDonnell said of the offshore oil delay.
While he said he understood the Obama administration's reasons for scaling back planned offshore exploration after the BP Deepwater disaster, McDonnell said the nation can't abandon offshore exploration as it learns from that spill, adopts reforms and adds additional layers of industry oversight.
"We're Americans. We overcome. We don't give up," McDonnell said.
In a separate interview, Salazar said the administration is not giving up on oil and gas drilling off Virginia's coast. He said, in fact, that seismic testing is planned in a triangular region of the Atlantic to assess how much oil and gas is there.
Salazar also said Virginia's huge military presence along the coast is an issue. Norfolk is home to the world's largest naval base and ships regularly sail through Atlantic waters and conduct military exercises where oil rigs would rise from the sea.
"The major challenge in terms of doing the Virginia triangle is really a conflict with defense," Salazar said in an interview with The Associated Press. "We have worked with the Department of Defense and they have showed us where the conflicts are.
"We believe the Virginia triangle is not ready for development because of the military conflicts," he added.
Salazar also said the administration already has achieved its oil and gas production goals, without the addition of Virginia waters.
The proposed exploration area encompasses 2.9 million acres, 50 miles off Virginia's coast.
The government estimates the area can produce 130 million barrels of oil and 1.1 trillion cubic feet of natural gas.
Industry officials have said new seismic studies could expand on the number, which was determined decades ago.
Environmentalists are skeptical, and contend offshore drilling isn't worth the environmental risks to tourism and fishing. They argue that estimates of oil and gas potential off Virginia represent a just sip compared to the nation's big thirst for energy.
Steve Szkotak can be reached on Twitter at http://twitter.com/sszkotakap
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Salazar, McDonnell discuss Va. offshore oil