In the heat of the gubernatorial campaign in Virginia, the Commonwealth's Speaker of the House is pushing the federal government to open the coastline to oil and natural gas development. Speaker William Howell has sent a letter to the Obama administration urging the leasing of 2.9 million acres of the Outer Continental Shelf along Virginia's coast by 2011.
Howell wrote, "Developing these resources would create thousands of new jobs in our commonwealth, arriving at the right time to assist in lifting our workers, families and communities out of this economic recession." The U.S. Interior Department estimates the area could contain 130 million barrels of oil and 1.14 trillion cubic feet of natural gas. But these estimates are several years old, and it's believed Virginia's coastline could ho... more »
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