RICHMOND—
Governor Bob McDonnell signed two bills Wednesday hoping to make Virginia the energy capitol of the east coast. The Commonwealth becomes the first state to explore for oil and natural gas offshore.None of this will happen overnight because the area that would be explored belongs to the federal government. Before any drilling can begin, the government needs to change the way profits from offshore drilling are distributed.
"It's going to be a while and its going to be a fight, but I think every Atlantic Coast state like VA that's interested in offshore drilling is facing the same thing." McDonnell said. "So we'll have a lot of allies on the Atlantic Coast, the federal delegation just has some work to do."
The laws signed Wednesday would only allow offshore drilling more than 50 miles off the coast.
Any revenues Virginia takes would go directly into the state's transportation budget.
