Virginia Out of Drilling Plan, and Governor's Mad

Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell slammed the Obama administration last week for killing major energy initiatives that would bring new revenues and jobs to the state.

The comments from McDonnell, a Republican, were in response to the Department of the Interior's announcement that Virginia was not included in the final five-year program for outer continental shelf oil and gas development.

"Once again, the Obama administration has demonstrated that they will not allow the safe and responsible development of oil and gas energy resources off of Virginia's coast," McDonnell said.

The final offshore oil and gas leasing program covers the period from 2012 to 2017, and includes leasing strategy and sales on the outer continental shelf.

McDonnell said that Virginia's local, state and federal elected officials, as well as residents, supported the development of energy resources off the coast because offshore energy exploration could bring thousands of jobs and millions in new revenue.

Leaving Virginia out of the oil and lease plan demonstrates that the "administration does not understand what our economy needs to grow and has no vision or plan for using all of America's God-given natural resources," McDonnell said.

The governor called on the administration to immediately reconsider the plan, and encouraged Congress to pass legislation compelling the Interior Department to include Virginia in the plan to offer oil and gas lease blocks off the state's coast.

"The president claims to have an 'all-of-the-above' energy strategy, which is now exposed as a ruse," McDonnell said. "In reality, this administration's repeated actions have been to attack the production of oil from federal lands, prevent the mining of America's vast coal reserves and inhibit the extraction of newly discovered expansive deposits of natural gas."

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