Bob McDonnell Isn't Messing Around

I like what I'm seeing so far.  Not only has McDonnell called for much-needed budget reform about how governor's have to eat a budget their predecessor sets, but now he's already sent a letter to Interior Secretary Ken Salazar asking the federal government for permission to drill offshore.  It will be interesting to see what the response is, but I suspect it will be a "no," based on the fact that a) the Obama Administration doesn't believe in it, and b) they aren't about to do McDonnell any favors after he embarrassed them in November. 

I wonder what then will Virginia do legally with our brand new attorney general with inklings towards federalism?

Comments

[Grover Leoning]

I watch Long Beach go from being a beautiful stretch co California Beach, to being a place where globs of oil regularly washed ashore, the water full of slime and litter and the air thick with acrid vapors from the offshore rigs.

I can see why Virginia Beach would be so eager to become like Long Beach, California.

Just as important as the risk associated with near-shore drilling, is who will be awarded the leases and where the energy would go.

If near shore drilling is prohibited, then environmental impacts on Virginia's coast, will be mitigated. However, given the McDonnell penchant for playing patty-cake with Chinese-owned corporations, it is highly likely that leases will be handed over to companies who would exploit the gas and oil, then ship it to China, not to America.

We should have an energy policy that requires U.S. energy resources be used here in America. Such a step would limit the exploitation of American resources by Communist China, and help to encourage the rebuilding of our domestic industrial base.

[Local GOP]

Good points Grover. Off shore drilling is complicated at best. McDonnell needs to really think about how to work it to ensure that the benefits remain in the Commonwealth and not go to China. Environmental concerns should also be taken into account and limited. We also need to understand that off shore drilling is a 10 year process at minimum and won't breed results over night.

[Not Too Conservative]

Local GOP is correct. In order to win moderates and independents, Republicans need to triangulate between oil companies, consumers, communists, and environmentalists by agreeing to shut down only half of all energy production in the United States.

With only a 50% reduction in our energy production, we can not only fulfill China's desire to surpass us in production and environmentalists' desires to reduce our capacity to threaten furry animals, but we can balance those desires with energy companies' desires for profit on a scarce resource and energy consumers' desires to at least keep half of the lights on and cars running every other day.

Everyone comes out a winner.

[Local GOP]

NTC:

The point isnt to out produce China, we shouldnt have to, after all we are ALOT smaller than them population wise. The goal is to not prolong the oil problem by sucking every last drop of oil out of the earth for a minimal net benefit. Ok, great, we drill off shore. 10 years from now we get to see oil from off VA Beach. Hopefully in 10 years we wont need it. If we do, I can guarantee that pumping in Virginia wont save us (right now estimates of exactly how much oil there is off VA ranges from 1 years worth to 100 years worth). We need to stop kicking the can down the road, and wise up and fix the problem now.

Just look at the progression in technology since 2000, hopefully in 2020 we can find different ways to power vehicles that wont require spending millions if not billions to research, authorize, license, construct, drill, produce, convert, process, and all the other steps that go into off shore drilling to appease VA for a few more years all the while the train is still coming down the tracks and we're stuck in the middle of them.