McDonnell tells Virginia energy conference US needs energy policy, less regulation

Posted on October 19, 2011 by Staff under Controversy, Energy, EPA, Jobs / Economy, People, US Policy

RICHMOND, Va. — Gov. Bob McDonnell said Tuesday the United States needs a national energy policy and a more balanced federal environmental climate for coal and offshore oil exploration.

STEVE SZKOTAK Associated Press

McDonnell, speaking at the 2nd Annual Governor’s Conference on Energy, said the U.S. should follow Virginia‘s lead and embrace an “all-of-the-above” philosophy of energy development to achieve energy independence and reboot the economy.

“To make this nation energy secure and more independent, we have got to have a comprehensive red, white and blue American energy policy that relies on all of the God-given natural resources that we’ve got in this country for us to continue to be the great and the free nation that we are,” the Republican governor said.

McDonnell, who has made energy a key element of his administration, took aim at federal policies on the subject one day before he is scheduled to share a stage with President Barack Obama in Hampton. The visit is part of the president’s jobs barnstorming in North Carolina and Virginia.

McDonnell repeated his appeal to the Obama administration that it end the moratorium on East Coast offshore oil exploration, which was enacted after the Gulf oil disaster. The governor said oil industry and federal regulators have learned the lessons from that environmental mess.

“I think it can be done safely and in an environmentally friendly way,” McDonnell said. “I’ll ask the president — he’ll be here tomorrow — have confidence in the United States of America, have confidence in the entrepreneurs and the federal regulators that they’ve got this figured out and let’s get back to work.”

Environmental activists and renewable energy proponents have criticized McDonnell’s approach to making Virginia the “Energy Capital of the East Coast.” They complain that he focuses too much on fossil fuels and does not do enough to promote conservation and “clean energy.”

McDonnell spent time discussing off all those approaches, but he also said new Environmental Protection Agency rules on coal mining threaten an industry that generates much of the nation’s electricity.

“We’re the Saudi Arabia of coal and we have to use it,” he said. He called for reasonable EPA guidelines governing coal and natural gas exploration and a thoughtful environmental policy that is mindful of economic growth and job creation.

“Too many times, I think, we’ve seen Washington either attack or impede the development of promising energy resources,” McDonnell said. “The oil industry, the coal industry, the natural gas industry, a lack of support for the nuclear industry.

“The bottom line is, we’ve got it, let’s use it.”