Well, the fate of offshore drilling here in Virginia is in doubt (thankfully!), but there’s good news on the offshore wind power front.
Virginia is one of 10 Atlantic states that today signed a memorandum of understanding with the U.S. Department of Interior to form a consortium to promote the development of wind energy off the Atlantic coastline, in an agreement that brings together governors who have both supported and opposed the Obama administration’s decision to halt future oil drilling.
Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar announced the agreement Tuesday, along with a new Virginia-based regional renewable energy office to coordinate efforts along the Atlantic coast. The MOU calls for an action plan to be developed to help guide state-federal coordination over commercial wind projects proposed offshore. – The Washington Post
So, by my count that’s:
- Renewable wind power creating jobs in Virginia: 1
- Risky deep-water offshore oil drilling creating jobs in Virginia: 0
The “drill baby drill” folks might have created a few dozen of jobs in ten years. The wind power folks will be creating an actual job or twelve here in Virginia in the form of a renewable-energy office here in the near-term.
So we’re both creating jobs and promoting renewable energy, without running afoul of the Navy’s preferences and adding to the risks of a catastrophic oil spill off our coasts?
Sounds like a good deal to me. Funny thing, Governor Kaine thought the same thing a couple weeks ago, before this agreement was announced.
“You have to weigh a couple of things in Virginia’s case,” he said.
“You have to weigh environmental safety. You have to weigh the significant naval operations and NASA operations off Virginia’s coast,” he added. “A third thing you’d have to weigh in Virginia’s case is . . . would it be better to do offshore wind?
“The same place where you might want to do oil rigs off the coast of Virginia, there’s actually pretty favorable wind conditions,” Kaine said.
“So you would look at all the options and you would put them all on the table, including the environmental conditions. And certainly the need to be diligent about that has certainly been escalated dramatically by what we’ve seen in the gulf.” – The Richmond Times-Dispatch
Once again, Democrats had it right in the first place.