Virginia's Offshore Drilling

On Wednesday, March 10, Governor Bob McDonnellsigned a bill to enable offshore drilling for oil and natural gas about 50 miles off the coast of Virginia.

This proposed plan is a part of McDonnell’s goal to make our state the “Energy Capital of the East Coast.” While being the first to tap into oil and natural gas

in the Atlantic may provide many people with jobs and supply our state with billions in revenue we can’t ignore the fact that there are much cleaner, renewable

energy sources such as solar and wind power that could boost our state’s economy just as well.

While many argue that offshore drilling isn't worth the risks to the environment, there are others in the community who strongly support McDonnell’s push

for the offshore drilling bill. Virginian Representative Eric Cantor (R) is the most recent politician trying to convince U.S. Secretary Ken Salazar to allow this bill

to pass. And if it does pass, we will be next in line after Alaska, Texas, and Louisiana, which already possess offshore drilling platforms for oil and gas.

The 2.9 million acres off the shore of Virginia where the proposed drilling would occur could house 130 million barrels of oil and 1.1 trillion cubic feet of natural gas.

Nevertheless, Governor McDonnell wants the maps of this proposed area drawn by the Minerals Management Service to be reevaluated to enable more bang for the buck.

According to McDonnell, “The map that’s currently drawn by MMS is not particularly favorable for Virginia.” The American Petroleum Institute also said in an

evaluation that there could actually be more gas and oil reserves in this area because seismic studies have not been conducted in the region for decades.

But there is still the question of ‘Is offshore drilling the answer?’ to our energy problem.

Offshore drilling is only a small step towards energy production, but it is not guaranteed to last forever. The U.S. should rather work to establish more policies

for the production of alternative fuels and renewable energy such as solar or wind power to allow for a more sustainable energy system. Many environmentalists

also insist on the creation of offshore wind turbines, which could supply enough energy to provide our whole state with electricity.

In the future, using wind turbines, developing new automobile technologies, or building a mass transit system would help alleviate the great American need for oil

and could possibly be even more beneficial to our state than building these proposed oil drilling platforms off the coast.