[1]Back in May, I was pretty disappointed [2] that both Senators Jim Webb and Mark Warner failed to support a cloture vote on a plan by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell that advocated for exploring for oil and natural gas off the Virginia coast.
It was yet another example of the senators long journey on offshore energy. This journey has included Warner’s veto of legislation in 2005 [3] when he was governor that would have made plain that we wanted the moratorium lifted, to his campaign ad in 2008 [4] that said we needed to explore, to 2010 when both pressed the administration [5] to begin lease sales, to a knee-jerk reaction [6] supporting the president’s all-stop on lease sales, and, then, to failing to vote for cloture.
At the time, both senators argued that revenue sharing must have been part of the solution.
Skeptically, I thought it was a stalling tactic. Why in the world would I have come to such a conclusion! *Especially since it appeared we missed the 2012-2017 Five Year Plan given the vacillating in 2010.
However, I am happy to announce that I was wrong and am elated that both senators have co-sponsored legislation that will begin the process of lease sales off the coast of Virginia and ensure a 50-50 revenue split between the state and federal government.
“Our economy and national security will be strengthened by an ‘all-of-the-above’ approach to energy, including the expanded production of our own domestic energy resources. We should not be sending hundreds of billions of dollars each year to oil-producing countries that do not like us, ” Senator Warner said. “This legislation jumpstarts a multi-year process that will include responsible environmental reviews, close consultations with NASA and our military partners in Hampton Roads, and this process will include multiple public hearings. Senator Webb and I firmly believe that Virginians should benefit from any energy resources that are developed off of our coast, and our legislation specifically requires the federal government to make reasonable royalty payments to the Commonwealth.”
It seems that both Warner and Webb realize that the time has come to move forward and would like to see Virginia included in the recent five year plan, 2012-2017.
“There will be resistance, but you gotta start sometime,” added Warner spokesman, Kevin Hall. “The Obama administration has OK’d some preliminary seismic testing in the proposed VA lease area, but since this is a 3-7 year process of review and public hearings, the two Senators believe the sooner we start this process the better.”
It’s clearly nice that after at least six years of debating and discussing this matter, both Senators have reached that conclusion.
Of course, some of the resistance Hall alludes to could come from Senators in interior states who don’t feel that offshore revenues gained in federal waters should go to the states. As I recall from 2010 [7], several senators wrote in CQ:
“There is no justification for using these significant national resources to provide benefits only for a few coastal states and their citizens. Rather, they must be available for the important public needs of all Americans.”
But Hall dismisses such issues arising in the current discussion. “Don’t anticipate a federalism debate, since similar revenue sharing arrangements are in effect among the Gulf states,” he said.
Now, before I get too hysterical in my praise for a break-out of radical centrism, one cannot forget that the House has been consistent in their desire to move the energy football down the field.
In fact, just in May, the House passed three energy related bills [8] to kick-start domestic energy production vice kicking the collective oil can. At the time, Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) said:
“While the Obama Administration continues to put up roadblocks to domestic energy production, House Republicans have passed three bills that maximize energy production, help bring down gas prices and will get people back to work,” said Cantor. “This legislation ensures that the Obama Administration can no longer withhold valuable energy resources necessary to increase American energy production here at home.”
Those bills, however, did not include revenue sharing, said Hall.
However, when I asked Leader Cantor back in May about Warner and Webb and their perceived foot-dragging, he still was gracious and said [9], “With near $4 per gallon gasoline in Virginia, we ought to be doing everything we can to maximize energy production here at home, and that includes moving bills through Congress, which signals to the administration that they ought to stop putting roadblocks in the way.”
From that statement, one might assume that the Senate bill might not only pass in the House, but potentially incorporate some of the House’s consistent proposals.
Update from Megan Whittemore spokeswoman for Leader Cantor:
Congressman Cantor has continually supported offshore energy development off our coast and advocated for fair and equitable revenue sharing for Virginia. Just recently, the House passed H.R. 1230, “The Restarting American Offshore Leasing Now Act,” which would put Lease Sale 220 back on track, after being cancelled by the Obama Administration, and require the Secretary of Interior to conduct oil and gas lease sales within one year of the bill’s enactment. Virginia has vast potential to move our nation towards the goal of achieving energy independence and offshore energy exploration and development in the Commonwealth will help put Virginians back to work, spur economic growth and reduce our dependence on foreign oil.
Regardless, the man who has been leading the charge for Virginia since at least 2008, Governor Bob McDonnell, championed Senators Webb and Warner and marked today as a banner day for the commonwealth.
“We need more safe and reliable sources of domestic energy. We need more jobs. Utilizing our offshore oil and natural gas resources accomplishes both of these goals,” said McDonnell. “I urge the United States Congress to take up this legislation immediately, and pass it swiftly. It is time we got serious about American energy security. This legislation does that. I thank the Senators for their efforts, and look forward to working with them to get this legislation passed and offshore oil and natural gas production underway in Virginia.”
Will the administration take notice?
View more of the statement from Warner and see some of the key provisions [10] of the legislation.