Letter to Kenneth Salazar, Secretary of the Department of Interior

Letter

U.S. Senators Jim Webb (D-VA) and Mark R. Warner (D-VA) today again urged the Obama Administration, in a letter to the Secretary of the Interior, to include areas off the coast of Virginia in the Department's upcoming leasing plan. The letter also called on the Department to revise the map of the mid-Atlantic Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) to more accurately reflect Virginia's energy resources.

"In this time of economic challenges, developing offshore resources could provide revenue to the U.S. treasury as well as a future source of funding for important state priorities such as transportation, land and water conservation and alternative energy development," the senators wrote. "We look forward to working with you to ensure that Virginia's OCS energy resources are developed in a timely fashion, through a fair distribution of revenues between the federal and state government, and in an environmentally sound manner."

Senator Webb and Senator Warner have repeatedly urged the Obama Administration to keep Virginia's Outer Continental lease sale on schedule. In July 2011, the senators introduced the Virginia Outer Continental Shelf Energy Production Act of 2011, which included revenue-sharing provisions and would expand the federal government's map of the mid-Atlantic exploration area to more accurately reflect the extent of Virginia's coastal resources. In 2008, Senator Webb cosponsored similar legislation with Republican Senator John Warner.

The full letter to Secretary of the Interior Salazar follows and can be accessed here.

January 27, 2012

The Honorable Kenneth Salazar
Secretary of the Department of Interior
1849 C Street, N.W.
Mail Stop 7229
Washington, D.C. 20240

Dear Secretary Salazar:
With the release of the Proposed Department of Interior Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) Oil and Gas Leasing Program for 2012-2017 (BOEM-2011-0119-0001), the Administration has the opportunity to further expand domestic production to put the United States on a trajectory toward energy security.

We therefore write to again express strong support for the inclusion of areas off the coast of Virginia. Energy production in the OCS has vigorous, bipartisan support among Virginians and their political leadership. In addition to the Virginia Congressional delegation, Governor McDonnell and members of the General Assembly from both parties recognize the benefits of offshore energy production to the Commonwealth and to our nation.

In supporting the inclusion of Virginia into the upcoming 5-year leasing plan, we would like to urge the Administration to revise the map of the mid-Atlantic OCS to reflect more accurately Virginia's resources as outlined in S. 1331, which we introduced in 2011.

Development of OCS resources with accompanying revenue sharing between the federal and state government would attract well-paying jobs and hold significant promise for boosting needed domestic energy production. In this time of economic challenges, developing offshore resources could provide revenue to the U.S. treasury as well as a future source of funding for important State priorities such as transportation, land and water conservation and alternative energy development.

We look forward to working with you to ensure that Virginia's OCS energy resources are developed in a timely fashion, through a fair distribution of revenues between the federal and state government, and in an environmentally sound manner.

Sincerely,

Jim Webb
United States Senator

Mark R. Warner
United States Senato

Source