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 In 2008, President George W. Bush lifted the presidential moratorium and Congress allowed its offshore drilling ban to expire. One last parting “gift” from the Bush Administration was the designation of 2.9 million acres off Virginia's coast (Lease Sale 220) for oil and gas drilling as early as 2011.
In January 2009, days before Obama was sworn in as President, Bush announced an additional Five-year leasing program (2010-2015) to include the entire Atlantic coast and allowing drilling to occur as close as 3 miles off our Virginia coast and the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay.
TAKE ACTION NOW
Click here to send a message to Secretary of Interior Ken Salazar. Tell him that drilling here will not help reduce our dependence our foreign oil, will endanger our oceans and fragile coastal environments, and will hurt our coastal economies.
Risk to Virginia's Tourism Industry:
One large spill that hits beaches during the tourism season can have major economic repercussions. The number of oil and gas industry jobs in states with new drilling would pale by comparison.
Offshore oil and gas operations have detrimental effects onshore. These operations require refineries and other processing facilities, miles of pipelines, roads, storage facilities, tankers all to be built nearby offshore rigs, on our beaches, wetlands, and coastal areas.
Value-add for tourism for Virginia means $16.5 billion and 206,900 jobs.
Risk to Virginia's Fishing Industry:
If commercial and recreational fishing is damaged by chronic or catastrophic offshore spills and pollution, economic damage is also large.
According to the Virginia Institute of Marine Science, Virginia’s fishing industry in 2005, “generated a total of $1.23 billion in output or sales, $717.4 million in value-added or income, and 13,015 full and part-time jobs for the economy of Virginia".
Risk to the Environment:
Offshore drilling, even just exploration for natural gas, means an average of 180,000 gallons per well of waste mud containing toxic metals such as mercury, arsenic and lead each day being dumped into surrounding waters.
Current drilling projects in the Gulf of Mexico have destroyed more wetlands than exist between New Jersey and Maine. Coastal wetlands absorb storm energy, thereby reducing hurricane costs. They also provide habitats supporting diverse wildlife and aquatic life that in turn supports valuable game fish. Wetlands also help regulate sediment flow and filter pollutants.
The risk associated with offshore exploration/drilling would affect not just Virginia. Any environmental damage would spread far beyond Virginia's coast, affecting Maryland, North Carolina, Delaware and New Jersey. Offshore drilling can't ethically be exacted on a one-state-only basis. Governors in these states continue to oppose offshore drilling.
Virginia is likely to become increasingly prone to powerful hurricanes, which pose potential risk to the integrity of offshore drilling infrastructure here. While Virginia is not prone to the same scale of hurricanes as hit the Gulf Coast, it should be noted that the U.S. Coast Guard reported that during Hurricanes Katrina and Rita roughly 9 million gallons of oil were spilled. MMS also reported that as a result of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, 113 platforms were destroyed and 457 pipelines were damaged.
Risk to National Security:
The U.S. Navy maintains its opposition to offshore drilling. To protect and defend our great country, they must have unfettered access to the Virginia CAPES Operating Area. This is an area where they are daily dropping 1,000 lb. missiles; there are submarines, ships firing guns, and decades of live ordnance existent in our offshore waters. According to a recently released Draft EIS, the Navy plans to increase its activities in this area. NASA also maintains its opposition to the MMS plan off Virginia.
Worth the Risk?:
Just 4 billion barrels is predicted off the Atlantic coast – equates to a mere 200 day (6 months) supply, based on current consumer consumption of 20 million barrels per day. Federal estimates indicate that it is decades before this supply comes online and 2030 before it will have any effect on gas prices.
Under current Federal law, any leasing revenues would go to the federal government, not to the state. And even if Congress changed the law, it would be at least ten years before we’d see any money. But the risks to our beaches, our wildlife, and our economy would start right away.
Contrary to its legislative intent and standing alone on the East Coast, Virginia continues to be enrolled in the Federal program to sell off leasing rights for both oil and gas the moment the moratorium on offshore drilling is lifted. There is no leasing scenario or regulatory framework that would allow development of natural gas and not simultaneously promote the development of offshore oil. Historically, there have been no instances where the industry has not removed both gas and oil before capping a productive well.
Meanwhile, four times more gas and oil is available in areas already open to drilling than in waters protected by the moratorium, and the industry is using only a fraction (18-20%) of what it already has access to. These unused areas could produce an additional 4.8 million barrels of oil and 44.7 billion cubic feet of natural gas each day, nearly double current domestic oil production.
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Sierra Club presentation to the Virginia Beach Mayor's Alternative Energy Task Force (Sept. 2009)
Ten Reasons Offshore Drilling is Wrong for Virginia (2008)
Coastal Governors Remain Strongly Opposed to Lifting OCS Moratorium
Harmful Effects of Seismic Surveys on Our Nation's Coasts and Marine Ecosystems
OCS Drilling: Impacts to Air, Water, Wildlife, Coastal Economies and Climate
The Aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and Rita, By the Numbers
The Myth of "Gas Only" Leasing
No Day at the Beach: How the Bush Administration is Eroding Coastal Protection
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