Virginia is Our Energy Future
March 15, 2011
Turn on the news and there are unsettling pictures from across the globe, including the Middle East. These are regions we send billions of dollars to every year when we buy our energy resources. These dollars support foreign jobs and foreign governments – some of whom don’t always share our values and interests.
But right here in America and in Virginia specifically, we have the resources to supply our cars with fuel and heat our homes with natural gas for decades to come. Developing these resources mean more Virginia jobs and millions in Virginia revenue!
Off the Virginia coastline is a huge natural resource of oil and natural gas. The estimates vary as to how much exists in this region, but conservative projections suggest there is enough oil to fuel every car in Virginia for the next four years, and enough natural gas to heat every home in Virginia until 2022.
The oil and natural gas industry already supports more than 143,000 jobs in the Old Dominion state and adds more than $12 billion to the state gross product. With development of the offshore oil and natural gas, the state stands to gain many more jobs and add revenue to the state. “Just natural gas alone, some of the estimates were about 2700 jobs [created] over the 10 years of an advance in natural gas,” Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell told a Virginia statehouse reporter last year.
America needs to develop its own energy resources if it is ever to be truly economically and nationally secure. Instead of sending our hard earned dollars overseas, we should be developing and supporting our own energy here. Our need for energy security is not going to go away; instead we need to develop our own assets for decades to come. By exploring the oil and natural gas off of Virginia’s coastline, we will make great strides to ensure America is a fully independent and secure nation.
The Virginia Energy Forum
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