Energy
I believe that as Americans, and as Virginians, we have within our grasp an incredible opportunity to help solve two of America’s largest challenges: a stagnant, no-growth economy saddled with historic unemployment rates and an unsustainable – even dangerous – dependence on foreign oil.
The answer lies in every corner of our nation: in the Bakken oil fields up north, along the Gulf Coast down south, just off the Pacific Coast in the west and right here in our backyard on the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) off the coast of Virginia. The answer is energy.
Read Scott's Legislation
What it Does:
-Opens up the OCS off Virginia
-Creates LOCAL jobs
-Generates tax revenues
-Shares royalties with the state and federal governments (50/50 split)
-DoD navigation requirements – fully protected
Fast Facts:
What is the job potential of this legislation?
Job Creation in Virginia (direct and indirect)^
By 2015 -- 3,600 jobs
By 2020 -- 16,400 jobs
By 2030 -- 18,000 jobs
^Source: Wood Mackenzie Study 2011
What are the LATEST statistics on our purchases of Saudi and Venezuelan oil?
According to the U.S Energy Information Agency statistics from 2010:
• We import a total of 11.8 Million Barrels or petroleum products per day. That includes 1.096 million barrels per day from Saudi Arabia and 0.988 million barrels per day come from Venezuela. The price of oil as of February 21, 2012 is about $106 per barrel. At today’s price we are paying $116.18 Million par day to Saudi Arabia and $104.73 Million per day to Venezuela. That’s $42.4 Billion annually to Saudi Arabia and $38.2 Billion annually to Venezuela. Combined that’s about $80 billion per year to Saudi and Ven.
How will offshore wind energy benefit Virginia?
• Virginia’s near-term offshore wind generation capacity is 3,000 to 3,500 Megawatts, which is enough to help power over 800,000 homes.^
• Development of 3,200 MW of offshore wind potential off Virginia’s coast over the next two decades could create 9,700 to 11,600 career-length jobs.*
• A hypothetical 588 MW offshore wind project is estimated to bring $403 million of investment to Virginia’s local economy.*
Source: *Virginia Coastal Energy Research Consortium, 2010
Source: ^Virginia Offshore Wind Coalition
More on Lease Sale 220
Lease Sale 220 is an offshore oil and gas exploration tract of about 2.9 million acres in the Mid-Atlantic Planning Area off the cost of Virginia.
The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation, and Enforcement (BOEMRE) initiated the first step for a potential lease sale by issuing a Call for Information and Interest/Nominations and Notice of Intent to Prepare an EIS (Call/NOI) for Lease Sale 220. This was published in the Federal Register on November 13, 2008. The comment period closed January 13, 2009. The approximately 2.9 million acres offshore Virginia in the Mid-Atlantic Planning Area and is at least 50 miles offshore. BOEMRE estimates that this area may contain 130 million barrels of oil and 1.14 trillion cubic feet of natural gas. This Call/NOI was the first step in the information gathering, evaluation, and public participation process. The area was included in the 5-Year plan at the request of the Commonwealth of Virginia.
In May 2010, following the Deep Water Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, President Obama cancelled Lease Sale 220. Lease Sale 220 was left out of the Administration’s 5-Year Outercontinental Shelf oil and gas development plan for the 2012-2017 period announced by Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar on November 8, 2011 indicating that the Obama Administration has no plans to allow oil and gas development off Virginia’s coast before 2017 at the earliest.
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