Offshore Drilling in Virginia

As the Bush Administration was coming to an end, the Minerals Management Service (MMS) was pushing hard to start the process to allow for oil and gas exploration off America's coasts, as well as a specific area off of Virginia's shore that has a suspected 130 million barrels of oil and 1.14 trillion cubic feet of natural gas. Because the Congressional and Presidential moratorium ended in September 2008, the MMS has now initiated the first steps towards drilling off Virginia's coast as early as 2011. The current Secretary of the Interior, Ken Salazar, ordered an assessment of the five-year drilling plan, including test drilling in the Gulf of Mexico and off the east coast, as well as an extra 180 days for public comment before he would allow the plan to continue.

The argument, again, comes down to the environment vs. the economy. Some argue that drilling for oil and natural gas off America's shores could provide 15,000 jobs for Virginians alone. As well as stimulating the job market, offshore drilling would simultaneously reduce our dependence on foreign oil, which is particularly important because of the current war in the Middle East. However, allowing offshore drilling along Virginia's coast poses numerous risks, both economically and environmentally. If even one oil spill occurred, it would severely impact and possibly completely destroy the tourism industry, which accounts for $16 billion of revenue and 200,000 jobs. Oil spills or pollution could also seriously influence the fishing industry, which offers about $1 billion in output. In addition, there is significant damage to the environment directly. Over 180,000 gallons of toxic mud waste is produced per well, and current drilling in the Gulf of Mexico has destroyed more wetlands than exist between New Jersey and Maine.

The damages and risks brought about by offshore drilling are too much of a hazard to balance out the possible economic benefits. New offshore wells will only weaken Virginia's defense from natural disasters such as hurricanes, and global warming only intensifies these effects. With Virginia Beach already being the tenth in the world in terms of expected impacts from climate change, there is no need to increase Virginia's susceptibility to these dangers. Instead of pursuing the recovery of fossil fuels, America should be investing in renewable energy sources such as solar and wind energy and educating our workforce to be involved in green jobs.