The chant “drill, baby, drill” may soon be heard off the coast of the Commonwealth. The Washington Post reports that the Bush Administration is taking the next step in its efforts to lease waters off the coast of Virginia to companies that are interested in drilling oil and natural gas.
The Minerals Management Service, an office of the U.S. Department of the Interior, has announced the start of a 45-day public comment period on whether the Virginia coast should be made available for drilling. At the end of the public comment period, the federal government will begin an environmental impact review to determine if drilling can begin by 2011.
According to Randall Luthi, director of the Minerals Management Service, Virginia Governor Tim Kaine expressed interest in opening up Virginia waters 50 miles offshore for exploration. The Post reports that in 2006, Kaine signed a bill in support of the federal government exploring just how much natural gas exists off the Atlantic coast.
But according to Delacey Skinner, the Governor’s communications director, what the current administration is proposing is very different from what Kaine requested. “We asked for a narrow lifting of the moratorium that was targeted specifically for exploratory drilling for natural gas only," Skinner said. "In that sense, this is significantly different from what Virginia was seeking."
Environmental groups, however, are asking the current administration to wait for President-elect Barack Obama to be sworn in, before making any decisions.
