Offshore Moratorium
The Obama Administration’s decision to place a moratorium on offshore energy production until 2017 threatens job growth and economic development for Virginia.
In 2008, Congress allowed a 26-year federal moratorium on offshore energy production to expire. Shortly thereafter, then-Senator John Warner (R-VA) and U.S. Senator Jim Webb (D-VA) jointly sponsored legislation to allow the Commonwealth of Virginia to conduct energy exploration activities offshore.
However, in December 2010, the Obama Administration placed the moratorium on offshore production through 2017. The effort to end this moratorium has drawn bipartisan support because our policymakers understand the value of these domestic oil and natural gas resources.
Much of the debate centers around “Lease Sale 220” — which would have made 5,760 acres – three square miles – off Virginia’s shores available for “the right to explore for, develop, and produce the oil and gas contained in the lease area” beginning in 2012, according to data from the Minerals Management Service, since renamed the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation, and Enforcement (BOEMRE). BOEMRE estimated that 130 million barrels of oil and 1.14 trillion cubic feet of natural gas are available in the lease area. But this information is based on old, outdated technology and assumptions. The latest estimates based on newer innovations, such as 3D- and 4D-seismic analysis and deepwater drilling technologies, increase this estimate to half a billion barrels of oil and 2.5 trillion cubic feet of natural gas.
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Va. Gov. Bob McDonnell's 2011 State of the Commonwealth address
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