A renewed push to drill off of Virginia's coast is expected to come up for a vote in the U.S. House of Representatives today.
The Restarting American Offshore Leasing Now Act would direct the secretary of the interior to conduct offshore oil and gas lease sales off of the state's coast within one year of the bill's enactment.
It would also jump-start lease sales in the Gulf of Mexico but exclude any tract off Virginia that would conflict with military operations.
Virginia's lease sale was scheduled for this year but delayed until at least 2017 after the April 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill, the worst offshore spill in American history.
In an op-ed column to run today in the Richmond Times-Dispatch, Gov. Bob McDonnell urges Congress to support the offshore leasing act and other upcoming measures addressing the country's energy future.
"Providing the leadership and guidance America needs at this time will calm markets," he writes, according to an advance copy provided by the administration.
"It would also reassure Americans who are paying upwards of 20 percent more at the pump that there is a vision and plan for America to become energy independent and not have our energy prices defined by the stability of Middle Eastern dictatorships, revolutions or armed conflicts."
McDonnell plans to hold an event this afternoon at a Henrico County gas station to talk about rising fuel costs and the "need to generate more energy domestically."
McDonnell hoped to tap drilling revenue for his roads-funding plan, though it still would take an act of Congress for the state to receive a share of the proceeds from offshore drilling. It would take years to actually begin drilling, even after a lease sale.
With gas prices pressing higher — the average price per gallon of regular in the Richmond area is $3.88 as of today — Republicans want to show that they're working to alleviate the pain.
House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-7th, said he expects the leasing act to pass the House. Its chances in the Senate and beyond are less clear.
He said this measure is part of a larger energy plan that Republicans have put forth.
"The increase in the price (of gas) has served as an additional tax on people's discretionary income," he said. "There are some things we can do to give relief to folks, and this bill is one of them."
On this measure and another, Democrats are expected to offer amendments to strip billions of dollars in tax breaks from the big oil companies, which recently posted a rise in first-quarter profits, according to a Reuters report on Wednesday.
Glen Besa, director of the Virginia chapter of the Sierra Club, said the smartest thing would be to end subsidies to the oil industry and redirect money to alternatively fueled vehicles.
He said that one year ago, state residents were worried about the Gulf oil spill hitting Virginia beaches.
"We simply cannot drill our way to lower gas prices when we use 25 percent of the world's oil and we only have 4 percent of the world's oil reserves," he said.
"Even if we drilled, we'd still be sending $1 billion a day to foreign countries, several (of) which are hostile to our interests and values."
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