Gov. Bob McDonnell said yesterday that he will urge Obama administration officials to proceed with plans to drill for oil and gas off the Virginia coast, despite growing concerns about a massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
McDonnell told reporters after a bill-signing ceremony at the state Capitol that he expects an "exhaustive" investigation will be conducted because of the oil spill and that tougher environmental safeguards will result.
On the monthly "Ask the Governor" program on WRVA (1140 AM) yesterday morning, the governor said: "Every time there's an airplane crash, we don't say, 'Well, we don't fly airplanes anymore.' We find ways to improve public safety, make it better and contain any environmental impact."
But he acknowledged that the spill is an environmental disaster that he would not want to occur off the coast of Virginia Beach.
Three weeks ago the Obama administration lifted a ban on drilling 50 miles off the Virginia coast. McDonnell has been a strong supporter of drilling and is counting on lease sales and oil royalties to fund a large part of his transportation program.
On the radio show, McDonnell also said that Virginia's policies designed to curb illegal immigration are "largely done" and that it is up to the federal government to police the borders. He noted that the General Assembly considered 70 bills two years ago dealing with immigration, some of which he had sponsored.
"Congress has done a poor job, Republicans as well as Democrats," he said.
As the grandson of an Irish immigrant, he favors a policy that welcomes legal immigrants, he said.
McDonnell told a caller to the radio show that then-Gov. Timothy M. Kaine had "misread" a court ruling that Kaine cited as a reason for barring Virginia State Police chaplains from offering secular prayers at state police events.
McDonnell rescinded that ban Wednesday.
"I'm a Republican. On taxes, jobs, social issues I don't think they [the Kaine administration] did right," he said.
Reminded that the ACLU of Virginia has threatened to sue to overturn the new policy, McDonnell said: "With the ACLU there is always a potential lawsuit."
Jewish community organizations from Richmond, Tidewater, the Peninsula and Washington issued a joint statement condemning the McDonnell proposal as divisive and constitutionally misguided. They also said a lawsuit is possible.
As eight legislators, four Republicans and four Democrats watched, McDonnell symbolically signed 27 bills passed by the assembly this year meant to improve the lot of Virginia's 830,000 veterans.
Measures would allow veterans to drive in HOV lanes in Hampton Roads, exempt active-duty military personnel who live in Virginia from having to buy a fishing license, and provide burial vaults at cost to eligible veterans and their family members. A proposed constitutional amendment would give disabled veterans a property tax break, and another bill would allow members of the Virginia National Guard, called to active duty, to continue their insurance.
A controversy in Richmond's suburbs involving a retired Army colonel who wanted to fly the American flag from a flagpole on his property was resolved in Col. Van T. Barfoot's favor.
He can fly the flag so long as it is in compliance with the federal Flag Code.
A Medal of Honor winner, Barfoot became a national story when he erected a flagpole on his property in the Sussex Square condominium complex in western Henrico County without obtaining permission from the homeowners association.
The Sussex Square homeowners board threatened legal action and ordered that the pole be removed. It withdrew the threat after elected officials, including Sen. Mark R. Warner, D-Va., and Kaine, came to his defense.
Contact Tyler Whitley at (804) 649-6780 or twhitley@timesdispatch.com.
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