RICHMOND -
Virginia will need more than Bob McDonnell's signature to bring in money and jobs from offshore drilling.
The governor signed a couple of bills Wednesday that underscore Virginia's desire to drill 50 miles off the coast, and highlight how the revenues will be used for transportation.
One major problem stands in the way, though, of exploration and fossil fuel development - Virginia doesn't have permission from the federal government to do it.
"What we're talking about with offshore drilling revenue is pie in the sky money," said Eileen Levandoski, a coastal energy expert with the Virginia Sierra Club. "There's not going to be any revenue from [oil drilling]."
No states on the East Coast can currently drill in federal waters. Virginia would be the first one to break the mold if the Department of the Interior grants an offshore lease sale, scheduled for 2011.
The lease would allow private companies like Shell or Exxon Mobil to bid on territories within the space and begin exploration. But even the lease is hardly a done deal.
"It's never a guarantee when you're talking about the federal government," said Delegate Chris Stolle, R-83rd.
Stolle sponsored House Bill 756, legislation which directs 80 percent of all future offshore royalties to transportation needs, and the rest to the Virginia Coastal Energy Research Consortium.
The Virginia Beach lawmaker told CBS 6 that the mere exploration of coastal water will inject new jobs into the state economy, with giant energy corporations looking to hire support staff locally.
"It's going to bring companies into our area that are going to have to use technologies and develop processes here in Virginia to go off and explore offshore," said Stolle.
Levandoski described the job prediction as a gross inaccuracy, noting that many people who will fill those support positions are specialists in the field who would flock to Virginia in the short-term and then leave.
"There's absolutely no reason for [workers] to disrupt their lives and move to Virginia when they can just fly in for the time period they need to be on these rigs, and then leave," said Levandoski.
"If you're talking about support jobs, you're talking about the processing jobs and things like that," she continued. "Virginia doesn't have any refineries. We just have one small refinery in Yorktown."
Should the bidders find reserves of oil and natural gas off Virginia's coast and want to pursue extraction, the state would then need a federal law that distributes some of the money generated to Virginia. Currently, all of those royalties would be directed to federal coffers.
Emory Powers, a Richmond resident skeptical about offshore drilling, said he would support "mapping the land, knowing what's there and having the [oil] in our reserves."
As far as any short-term benefits are concerned, however, Powers said "[drilling] right now probably helps the oil companies and stockholders a lot more than it does Virginia citizens, or bringing in revenues to take care of our roads and infrastructure."
The governor signed a couple of bills Wednesday that underscore Virginia's desire to drill 50 miles off the coast, and highlight how the revenues will be used for transportation.
One major problem stands in the way, though, of exploration and fossil fuel development - Virginia doesn't have permission from the federal government to do it.
"What we're talking about with offshore drilling revenue is pie in the sky money," said Eileen Levandoski, a coastal energy expert with the Virginia Sierra Club. "There's not going to be any revenue from [oil drilling]."
No states on the East Coast can currently drill in federal waters. Virginia would be the first one to break the mold if the Department of the Interior grants an offshore lease sale, scheduled for 2011.
The lease would allow private companies like Shell or Exxon Mobil to bid on territories within the space and begin exploration. But even the lease is hardly a done deal.
"It's never a guarantee when you're talking about the federal government," said Delegate Chris Stolle, R-83rd.
Stolle sponsored House Bill 756, legislation which directs 80 percent of all future offshore royalties to transportation needs, and the rest to the Virginia Coastal Energy Research Consortium.
The Virginia Beach lawmaker told CBS 6 that the mere exploration of coastal water will inject new jobs into the state economy, with giant energy corporations looking to hire support staff locally.
"It's going to bring companies into our area that are going to have to use technologies and develop processes here in Virginia to go off and explore offshore," said Stolle.
Levandoski described the job prediction as a gross inaccuracy, noting that many people who will fill those support positions are specialists in the field who would flock to Virginia in the short-term and then leave.
"There's absolutely no reason for [workers] to disrupt their lives and move to Virginia when they can just fly in for the time period they need to be on these rigs, and then leave," said Levandoski.
"If you're talking about support jobs, you're talking about the processing jobs and things like that," she continued. "Virginia doesn't have any refineries. We just have one small refinery in Yorktown."
Should the bidders find reserves of oil and natural gas off Virginia's coast and want to pursue extraction, the state would then need a federal law that distributes some of the money generated to Virginia. Currently, all of those royalties would be directed to federal coffers.
Emory Powers, a Richmond resident skeptical about offshore drilling, said he would support "mapping the land, knowing what's there and having the [oil] in our reserves."
As far as any short-term benefits are concerned, however, Powers said "[drilling] right now probably helps the oil companies and stockholders a lot more than it does Virginia citizens, or bringing in revenues to take care of our roads and infrastructure."
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