President Donald Trump and his administration are sending officials to central Virginia to discuss the future of offshore drilling and energy production in and around the commonwealth. On Wednesday, White House officials will host their only scheduled meeting thus far to inform the public on the matter.
The Trump administration will begin finalizing its 2019-2024 offshore drilling leasing agreements soon. President Trump campaigned on increasing energy production via offshore oil drilling and other outlets to ensure U.S. energy dominance and bolstering national security measures.
According to a report from the Richmond Times-Dispatch, concerned members of the public and those supportive of the measure may have their questions answered and become more informed at the Four Points by Sheraton near the Richmond International Airport in eastern Henrico County. In a recent Mason-Dixon poll from the Thomas Jefferson Institute for Public Policy claims that 55 percent of Virginians support offshore drilling with 39 percent opposing.
Last month, President Trump announced his decision to open up nearly all the coastlines around the United States to offshore oil drilling, walking back stringent Obama-era regulations. A myriad of energy providers and corporate organizations support the Trump Administration’s offshore drilling program. Many are claiming that it will allow the U.S. to become more energy independent in the near future and begin to decrease foreign energy imports.
However, the offshore drilling proposals have angered many environmentalist groups and activists, as well as numerous elected officials from both sides of the political spectrum. Virginia Governor Ralph Northam (D) opposes drilling offshore Virginia, explaining the measures will greatly threaten the fishing economy, tourism, ocean environment, public health, and military training operations.
In a report from the Daily Press, Miles Morin, the executive director of the Virginia Petroleum Council, has explained that the potential risks off offshore drilling have been emphasized to the public far more than the potential rewards. Last week,
“There’s a perception of opposition (in Hampton Roads) that’s been created by some wealthy developers and some ideologically motivated environmental opponents pressuring local governments to oppose drilling,” Morin said on Friday. On Wednesday, before the meeting at the hotel, The Sierra Club, Chesapeake Climate Action Network, and Oceana, Mothers Out Front are among a few groups that will be hosting the “Protect Our Coast, No Offshore Drilling” protest.
Morin said a lot of the opposition from the public is based on bias of voicing the opinions and facts from one side of the spectrum. “When ordinary people hear about the average salary for an oil and gas job being around $100,000 a year and the potential for about 25,000 jobs to be created and sustained in Hampton Roads over the course of a decade or two of this, they tend to come out strongly to support the production, the exploration of offshore resources.”
The meeting in eastern Henrico will be held by the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM), part of the U.S. Department of Interior. Those wishing to voice their concern or have their questions answered can do so between 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. and also submit written commentary.
