Obama officially dumps the Virignia lease sale 220
By Georgie Gale | Thursday, May 27th, 2010 | PolicyAnd it’s official…
I suppose none of us should be surprised. Due to overwhelming pressure and a tremendous case of foot-in-mouth disease (wasn’t he preaching how safe oil drilling was just days before the disaster?), Obama has officially cancelled lease sale 220 and Virginia’s hopes for bringing in the jobs and revenue from offshore oil drilling.
The Governor put out this statement:
“The environmental disaster still unfolding in the Gulf of Mexico is unprecedented and devastating. The full attention of the federal government, as well as state and local governments and the private sector companies involved should appropriately be focused on permanently capping this leak and cleaning up the oil that has been spilled. The images from Louisiana and around the Gulf are stunning, and it will take significant time and resources to fully recover from this tragedy. The Commonwealth of Virginia is prepared to assist in those efforts, should our services be required or useful. I have previously called Governor Bobby Jindal to inform him of our willingness to help. He is doing excellent work in leading his state’s response.
Similarly, it will take significant time to fully investigate and evaluate what took place at the Deepwater Horizon rig on April 20th and in the ensuing weeks. This accident must lead to necessary improvements in offshore exploration and drilling technology and safety, and the implementation of new safeguards and regulations moving forward. This process will make it difficult to move forward with the lease sale currently scheduled off the coast of Virginia in 2012. Thus, I understand the decision the President has made today. While I respect his decision, and the need for delay and investigation, I do not believe outright cancellation was the only alternative given the fact that this sale was not due to occur until two years from now, and actual drilling would likely take place years after that. The two-year environmental impact statement already underway would provide ample information about the wisdom of proceeding on to an actual lease sale.
It is my hope that the President’s action does not signal the end of offshore energy exploration and production off Virginia in the years ahead. Once we have learned the lessons from this tragic accident, and made the necessary changes and improvements in the offshore industry and government oversight, we should move forward with environmentally responsible domestic offshore energy production for oil and natural gas. This nation needs more domestic energy production. If we decrease the amount of energy produced here in the United States, we will only increase the amount of energy we must import from overseas. We must have the foresight and objectivity to not let this tragic accident cripple our ability to increase energy production in the United States. That would be a tragedy in its own right.
Just as Americans did not quit or retreat from innovation after tragedies in space exploration, so must we learn, change and persevere in advancing energy independence by using all our natural resources. The spirit of American progress is to overcome adversity and conquer obstacles, not quit and accept failure. Our nation needs domestic energy production and the jobs and security that come with it. I am a strong proponent of a comprehensive energy policy for Virginia and America. We should greatly increase our domestic production and utilization of all energy sources. That includes offshore and onshore wind, coal, solar, nuclear, biofuels, waste to energy, natural gas and, with the appropriate improvements in the industry incorporated moving forward, offshore oil and gas. I have great confidence in American ingenuity, intelligence and innovation, and our ability to properly and reasonably move forward following this major setback.”
Believe it or not – although I’m an evangelist for offshore wind – I am disappointed that the President has bowed to political pressure on this one. I was at the public scoping meeting for the environmental impact study for seismic surveying of the Outer Continental Shelf. Geologists who have degrees and decades of experience in this stuff got up and stated that the OCS off the East Coast does not have the volatile conditions underground that the Gulf does. No massive pockets of methane ready to explode with the slightest pin prick. Supposedly it’s a much safer environment if you’re going to drill.
So I say, what’s wrong with just studying it? See what’s out there, do some tests, find out if it’s volatile or stable and then come back and tell me you’ve made a decision. To blindly make a policy decision like this based on fear, regarding our country’s national security, seems willfully ignorant…the definition of folly.
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Georgie Gale of Virginia Beach. That's it.
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15 Responses to "Obama officially dumps the Virignia lease sale 220"
Well, I guess McDonnell has someone (or at least something) to blame for the reason nothing will happen with transportation in Virginia now. No drilling means no funding…at least in McDonnell’s plan. It was always “pie in the sky”, but now he has a “reason” why it didn’t work out. I wonder if he’ll be open to other revenue streams during the next GA session now that his dreams of drilling off VA have been crushed.
Anyone with a sense of emphathy has to feel for the Governor, but any money for transportation was a decade away. In that regard, his announcement today about use of the PPEAs in Virginia was simply a press op to essentially acknowledge that unless and until the Legislature provides an additional funding stream, there is simply no money for PPVs. This Governor will have the same fate as others; that it, the intrasigence of the majority in the House will make him and any Governor look like a fool until the Delegates realize the damage they have done to Virginia’s transportation infrastructure through their policy of denial and obfuscation.
I agree…wouldn’t the judicious Obama of 2008 propose a gathering of the best minds to study the issue, not issue a knee-jerk denial based on the current, popular opinion about offshore drilling?
Burke, not everyone wants to do as Obama did and just stop any exploration. We simply would like as our Governor McDonnell so eloquently said,
“This accident must lead to necessary improvements in offshore exploration and drilling technology and safety, and the implementation of new safeguards and regulations moving forward.” .
President Obama instead did what he thought his environmental friends would want. I am an environmental. I recycle, everything. I don’t pollute. We must become energy independent. Period.
Please illuminate me. I have not seen anything where the Obama administration permanently removed the Virginia leases from consideration. He only canceled exploratory drilling and postponed bids on the leases.
For those of us in favor of off shore drilling I think this is the best we could have expected thus far. I do not think it is unreasonable to hope/expect that if drilling occurs off our shores it will be done safely.
If it takes some time to figure out what went wrong in the Gulf before we approve drilling off our shore so that what happened there does not happen here? Well I can live with that.
It’s all over the news today. Obama officially cancelled all pending lease sales and extended the moratorium. Undid what he did a couple months ago. Nothing’s postponed, it’s off the table altogether. I’ll add some links in the morning if it helps.
The same should be said for uranium mining.
Georgie,
I went and watched the press conference for myself. He did use the word canceled when it came to off Virginia didn’t he?
My question is why off Virginia it needs to be permanent while in other areas it is only suspended for six months? If in other areas it can again be done safely after a six month review why shouldn’t the steps taken be enough to guarantee the safe extraction off Virginia’s coasts as well?
I am at a loss to explain the reasoning behind the decisions. Now if Virginia’s citizens themselves say no after they see the risks, OK. But if Virginia public opinion remains in favor of it off our coasts?
But we have yet to see the full impact of things on public opinion. Since the start of the spill public opinion against offshore drilling has been on a steady downward trend. The worst impacts of the spill have yet to be realized. Where will public opinion be six months from now?
Day 40 and Top Kill didn’t work. It is appropriate to pray they find a solution QUICK!
A norwegian company with the experience in deep offshore has repeatedly offered to assist but our president in his infinite wisdom has declined assistance. An outfit called EXPRO has a technique that might enable chasing a device called a chinese finger down far enough in the wellbore to be tractored down far enough to detonate a charge and at least slow down the flow until a relief wellbore intercept can be performed under the sea bed and either divert or plug the production zone in the pressurized geological formation.
Here is a good source of technical info that may be of interest.. enjoy: http://www.upstreamonline.com/live/article215870.ece
Kathy,
A good place to find information is here –
http://deepwaterhorizonresponse.com
It looks like they’re going to use this option -
http://www.deepwaterhorizonresponse.com/go/doc/2931/564231/
Peter, I notice they have methanol lines marked.. I wonder if meth would have prevented the hydrate issue well enough for plan A to have worked better?
The worst case scenario is a govt take over.. When Ken Salazar speaks, be scared..
Methanol is key. From what I understand, that, the gasket, and the smaller cap (less volume) are important to keeping hydrates from interfering.
Thank you Peter Blue, that’s where I have been getting all my information and it’s good you posted here for everyone else to stay on top of. I was really hoping the Top Kill would work but they already knew it was a 60- 70% chance before they began. Not that great when you figure in other factors. We need to do what other countries have done when they need help, we need to ask for help. Asking for help is not a sign of weakness but of strength. It is saying, we need our world to unite with us, just like we have done for our world. (Africa, Haiti, Europe during WWI and II, etc. etc. etc……).
Got an email earlier from an overseas friend in the gas business.. Unable to confirm but a norwegian firm called Scanmudring has a scalable technology which might be real handy right now.. http://www.scanmudring.no/?page=301&menu=15&id=16
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