Virginia's U.S. senators, Democrats Jim Webb and Mark R. Warner, called on the Secretary of the Interior today to make sure that the Virginia Lease Sale, for developing oil and gas reserves off the coast of Virginia, remains on track for 2011.
"If accomplished with a fair and equitable formula for sharing of revenues between the federal and state government, Lease Sale 220 will attract well-paying jobs to the Commonwealth to support a range of projects . . . ," the senators wrote in a letter to Ken Salazar, the Secretary of the Interior.
An Interior Department official on Tuesday indicated that the sale may be delayed to allow time for more environmental studies.
Gov. Bob McDonnell, a Republican, also has called on a lease sale by 2011. He wants to use revenues to pay for transportation and other state needs.
In the letter, Warner and Webb noted that Webb, along with then-Sen. John W. Warner, a Republican, in 2008 co-sponsored legislation to allow exploration off the Virginia coast.
-- Tyler Whitley
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