Keystone Energy Forum

Governor McDonnell responds to passage of offshore drilling legislation in the House Natural Resources Committee.

Days after Virginia's U.S. senators made an appeal to open the state's coast to offshore drilling, Rep. Scott Rigell, R-Virginia Beach, said he will introduce House legislation asking for the same.

Virginia lawmakers in Washington again are pushing for oil and natural gas drilling off the state's coast, especially after President Barack Obama announced he wants more domestic production of fossil fuels on land and beneath the Gulf of Mexico.

U.S. senate hopeful George Allen said Tuesday night at a Fredericksburg library that one of the first things he would do if elected is to propose legislation that would allow Virginia to explore for natural gas and oil off its coast and share in the royalties.

U.S. Sens. Jim Webb and Mark Warner, both Virginia Democrats, again asked the Obama administration to open the state's coast to oil and natural gas exploration.

For the third year in a row energy played a central role in President Obama's State of the Union address, with the president leaning hard this year on the twin themes of increased domestic oil and gas production and the need to invest more in renewable sources.

Not only did Gov. McDonnell say, "Making Virginia 'The Energy Capital of the East Coast' will create more jobs and revenues for our citizens.", he described how this could be possible.

Senate Republicans introduced a bill that would require the Secretary of State to issue a U.S. permit for the Keystone XL pipeline within 60 days. This still "provides adequate time for Nebraska to shift the route of the pipeline" while allowing construction to begin elsewhere.

In response to the Administration's announcement that it would delay approval of the TransCanada Corp.'s Keystone XL $7 billion pipeline, Virginia Congressman Randy Forbes joined 14 Congressmen in sending a letter to President Obama asking him to move forward with approving the pipeline.

The Administration released its new plans for offshore drilling, and Senator Webb said: "I am hopeful that the Administration will reconsider the inclusion of Virginia in its five-year lease plan."