From the Party that Brought You the Self-Financing War

Remember the inference that Iraqi oil would pay for our adventure in reshaping the Middle East? The Virginia version is encased in failed HB 1633. Offshore drilling will solve our transportation and energy problems. That's the promise. No numbers; no timeline. Just counting those chickens before they hatch. No chickens? No chicken waste.

The pied piper of petroleum production and placid plutonium placement, Senator Tex Wagner (R-Virginia Beach) seems to be leading the energy charge but he is missing from the list of patrons of Delegate Saxman's (R-Staunton) proposal. Credible deniability? The problem for Republicans in this election cycle is that they may be caught out when the facts don't match the reality. This happened to Delegate Joe Bouchard's (D-Virginia Beach) challenger last week when he relied upon a vague assertion that the Navy was willing to negotiate drilling in the training areas off the coast of Virginia. Nothing that the candidate said was strictly inaccurate; only out of the context of time, leading to an invalid perception that the door was open to drilling and the extension that state revenue problems would magically vanish if only...



35 Republican members of the House of Delegates signed up as co-patrons of Saxman's bill. There were no Democratic co-patrons. There was no formal interest in the Senate. There are no numbers other than the percentages. Here is what the promise of offshore drilling delivers:

Dividing up Gas and Oil Royalties

• 35%: Transportation Trust Fund
• 35%: cleanup of the Chesapeake Bay and other waters
• 10%: Virginia Coastal Energy Research Consortium
• 10%: Home Energy Assistance Fund
• 5%: Biofuels Production Fund
• 5%: Renewable Electricity Production Grant

Of course 35% of nothing is nothing. And even if it were to become something, it won't be something for years to come, and by then our highways will be in utter disrepair. On the surface, an appealing solution to the transportation cul de sac in which we find ourselves. In reality, at best, eight more years of ignoring the problem. And, that doesn't even touch upon the environmental and sustainable energy issues raised.

But Senator Wagner dropped in on U.S. Senator Mark Warner's Energy Summit a week ago and made more promises about what drilling will pay for. As the pope of power, Wagner hangs his hat on a bill that he patroned in 2006, establishing the Virginia Energy Plan which was really a broad policy statement masquerading as a plan. It does direct someone else to craft a plan and includes a shotgun endorsement of every energy initiative out there. Like the "plan" for Iraq: no focus; no end-state; no price tag. Just a lot of activity designed to answer the question: What are we doing?

"It is a broad based plan. We don't leave any stone unturned. It's heavy in conservation and conservation measures, it talks to nuclear, it talks to fossil fuels, it talks to renewable energy. And it also talks to one of the things Senator Warner did bring up: which is the importance of a vibrant research and development community as a basis for economic development." – Senator Frank Wagner

Describing the Obama stimulus plan as a "silver shotgun shell," (that's right, a Republican compliment of the stimulus, unless I have somehow taken that out of context) Senator Wagner pointed out that these are one-time expenditures that could become a sustainable effort if we open up exploration for fossil fuels. He suggested we take those oil and gas revenues to sustain these programs as well as fund research and development that will facilitate the transition to new energy resources. An enticement to drill and simultaneously rationalize the bitter pill.

Wagner's position is that one of the areas that can show significant progress in renewable energy is wind. Pointing out the stimulus package has significant loan guarantees for renewable energy, he asked if there is a way to hold some of that federal money for future development. But then he went on with a subtle slight of hand by obfuscating the Navy's issues with offshore drilling by suggesting that the wind farms present the same issues as exploration for fossil fuels in the Navy training areas. And by inference, if we can work out the placement of wind farms, we can work out drilling in those areas. Apples and oranges, but a neatly crafted parallel for his purposes.

And this is where Senator Wagner's fellow Republicans should take heed. Employ care using his assertions out of the context in which he places them when broadly supporting arguments. Senator Wagner is well practiced in arranging his information so that he does not get tripped up by the details. Remember that he supports every broad concept, but not a tangible effort like Delegate Saxman's. A careful defense of a position is that you take no position against any position while you push your position. The position right now is the perception that every revenue shortfall in Virginia can be cured by offshore drilling. Saxman's bill may have exposed just a bit too much of that false promise. Offshore drilling can no more solve Virginia's energy, much less financial crisis, than Iraq's oil was ever going to pay for our misguided effort in Iraq.

Cross posted at Blue Commonwealth