Tidewater targeted by Va. Senate
Bill would probe area for natural gas, oil
By Meghan Patrick, contributing writer
Posted on April 13, 2006

The United States’ first step in moving away from its dependency on foreign gas and oil may occur close to home for many JMU students from the Tidewater region of Virginia.

Virginia Beach Senator Frank W. Wagner (R) is one of the chief sponsors of a bill to explore the natural gas in the waters off of the beach’s 35-mile coast. The search could result in the detection of oil deposits, which if drilled, could move the nation closer to self-sufficiency.

This past winter, the federal government gave Virginia lawmakers the opportunity to lift the 25-year-old moratorium prohibiting drilling on the Eastern Seaboard for natural gas.

“There is so much potential for good things to come out of exploring off the coast,” said Wagner in an interview with The Washington Post. “It would spur economic development, create jobs and possibly help reduce our dependence on foreign oil.”

There has been much debate over the exploration project, which is proposed to occur between 2007 and 2011.

“Before any meaningful discussion of offshore drilling, there must be some sense of the potential size of the natural gas reserve,” Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine said in a statement to the Associated Press Friday.

“Absent that information, it is impossible to fairly weigh the benefits of offshore energy against the numerous concerns expressed by the public.” This amendment supports the federal plan to determine how much natural gas exists 50 or more miles off the Atlantic Coast.

Opponents to the bill feel it is dangerous to risk the chance of long-term harm to the environment that oil drilling and a possible oil spill would bring.

“Lifting the moratorium is not going to solve our energy problems, and it might lead to other coast problems,” said executive director of Virginia’s Sierra Club Michael Town to The Washington Post. Town, along with other local and national opponents, feel energy conservation and efficiency is the best short-term solution to the energy needs of the country.

Many residents of the Tidewater region are also concerned about the effect exploration and possible drilling will have on tourism. In addition to the apprehension of long-term environmental damage, many fear what the accumulation of oils rigs to the nearby shore would do to the scenery, on and offshore.

“I don’t want to walk on the beach and see an oil rig sticking out of the ocean,” said senior Brooks Royster, whose family has owned a summer home in Northern Virginia Beach for the past six years.

The bill said the rigs used for drilling gas would be at least 30 miles offshore, about “twice as far as a person could see from the coast,” according to The Washington Post. There have been no statements about where the rigs would be placed in the future if oil were to be drilled.

Sophomore Adam Cross of Portsmouth has spent almost every summer weekend over the past several years body-boarding off of the coast. “I am kind of in between on how I feel about this,” Cross said. “It would be good to help the economy and create jobs, but if there is a risk in hurting the environment, it’s not worth it all.”