Correspondent: Drilling Offshore Makes Sense

Drilling Offshore Makes Good Sense
Editor, Times-Dispatch: Marirose Pratt ["Offshore Drilling Is No Silver Bullet"] is either sadly misinformed or unwilling to acknowledge the inconvenient facts about our energy reality. Drilling off our coast is not a silver bullet, but it is silver buckshot. Virginia does have a chance to become energy independent if we put all of our resources in play.

Pratt confuses electric power with liquid fuels. Wind and solar plants produce expensive, intermittent electricity that must be backed up by new natural gas plants. The T. Boone-doggle proves my point: Even with a massive taxpayer subsidy from a billionaire, the $10 billion project can't be financed. Wind power requires extensive expansion of the electric transmission grid that is often blocked by the same groups Pratt counts as her friends.

The Atlantic offshore has substantial energy resources (8 billion barrels of oil and 70 trillion cubic feet of gas) that are sorely needed by the neighboring states, including Virginia. We import all of the crude oil (by tanker and barge) and 60 percent of the natural gas we need. We refine only 15 percent of the fuel we need. We also import 30 percent of the electricity we use. Virginia has ample coal resources and we may have substantial uranium resources.

The commercial and sport fishing industries in the Gulf of Mexico are vital to the Texas and Louisiana economies. The platforms serve as artificial reefs that support the marine environment. The same structures could also be the home for an offshore wind farm.

The myth of "green jobs" has been decimated. Spain is a classic example: For every "green job" created, more than two good jobs are destroyed. The Congressional Budget Office has told Congress that the various ration-and-tax schemes to promote "green jobs" will cost the U.S. economy dearly. In every case we will be losing net jobs.

A. G. Randol III.
Richmond.