Offshore Drilling Will Create Jobs in Virginia

Last September, the United States Congress chose to support American jobs and American energy by allowing the ban on offshore drilling to expire. For the first time in more than 25 years, drilling in the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) became legal, offering America the opportunity for more energy, more security, and more jobs.

Unfortunately, the current administration was quick to slow down this opportunity to create jobs and decrease our reliance on foreign sources of oil. Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar announced in February that he would extend the public comment period by six months, effectively prolonging the now-expired ban on offshore energy development in America. And recently, Secretary Salazar hinted he might delay the process even further and not make a decision on drilling until 2012.

This obstructive action has serious national security consequences while restricting job creation and economic growth. Offshore drilling has the potential to generate an astonishing $273 billion per year in additional economic growth and create millions of new, high-paying jobs. It would also generate almost $75 billion in revenue per year for federal, state, and local governments in the form of royalties and new tax revenues.

Virginia stands to gain significantly from offshore oil and gas development. Offshore drilling could create more than 15,000 jobs for Virginians and would generate more than $260 million per year in new state revenue from state and local taxes. For a state facing a budget deficit of $3 billion, this would provide much-needed economic growth, without levying any new taxes on hardworking Virginians.

Lease Sale Area 220 -- an area 50 miles off Virginia's coast covering nearly 3 million acres -- is currently scheduled to be leased in 2011. The Department of Interior estimates that this sliver of the OCS contains 130 million barrels of oil and more than a trillion cubic feet of natural gas.

Yet these numbers may significantly underestimate Virginia's oil and gas reserves. Exploration efforts often end up producing vastly larger amounts of oil and gas than the initial prediction of reserves. Last year, for example, the U.S. Geological Survey increased its estimate of oil reserves in the Bakken formation in North Dakota and Montana by 2,500 percent.

New exploration also can turn up new fields. A recent oil discovery off the coast of Brazil could contain upwards of 30 billion barrels of oil, which is the largest oil discovery in the Americas in three decades. Had Brazilians been banned from exploring and conducting new seismic tests, they never would have made this extraordinary discovery. Now, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, Brazil will become an oil exporter.

As Brazil grows richer, our government keeps our own offshore resources locked away, denying America massive amounts of energy and enormous economic benefits. Adding insult to economic injury, our own government recently announced it would help finance Brazil's oil drilling with a $2 billion loan.

At a time of widespread job loss, the federal government could help create jobs here at home instead of Brazil by simply accelerating the administrative process that would allow drilling to begin.

Fortunately, there are ways to stand up against these anti-job, anti-energy, anti-national security policies.

Despite the bureaucratic delay, hundreds of thousands of Americans submitted their comments to the Department of Interior -- in support of offshore exploration. The comment period ended on Sept. 21, after which the government will tally the comments and decide if any leasing at all will take place between 2010 and 2015, including whether Virginia will be given permission to create jobs for its citizens.

Virginians should also send their comments to Sens. Mark Warner and Jim Webb and demand that they support more energy development in America.

Equally as important, Virginians should hold their next governor accountable and ensure that whoever is elected is committed to a pro-American energy approach that creates new jobs and new revenue for the commonwealth.

Vince Haley is the vice president for policy at American Solutions, an issues-based advocacy group, and is co-author of Newt Gingrich's book "Drill Here, Drill Now, Pay Less: A Handbook for Slashing Gas Prices and Solving the Energy Crisis." Contact him at .