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Offshore Energy Studied

Posted on: Wednesday, 11 January 2006, 21:00 CST

By Greg Edwards, Richmond Times-Dispatch, Va.

Jan. 12--Natural-gas exploration off Virginia's coast can be done safely, would take years to yield results and must be part of a comprehensive plan to meet energy needs, a state official says.

Last year, lawmakers asked Virginia Secretary of Commerce and Trade Michael J. Schewel to study the state's offshore natural-gas potential.

"Improved energy efficiency -- better and more prudent use of our existing energy resources -- is our only viable short- term means of reducing our nation's need

Schewelfor new energy supplies," Schewel said in a report sent to the General Assembly late Tuesday.

In an interview yesterday, he said that if the effort began now, it would take at least a decade before Virginia's outer continental shelf yielded natural gas.

"There is a notion afoot that offshore gas is some immediate, easy or quick solution to the U.S.'s energy [problems]," according to Schewel. "It is only part of a long-term solution."

An advisory group from government, industry and environmental groups helped Schewel study the matter, but Schewel said he alone was responsible for the report. "It reflects my views and nobody else's."

Offshore energy development is an environmentally controversial topic, but Michael Town of the Sierra Club's Virginia chapter described Schewel's report as "pretty decent." Schewel balanced the need for additional energy supplies with the limited potential for offshore natural gas and the potential environmental impact of gas development, Town said.

A federal moratorium on gas drilling off much of the U.S. coastline, including the Atlantic coast, has been in place since 1990. Efforts are being made in Congress to lift the moratorium and allow states to decide whether drilling should occur and to share in any royalties.

State Sen. Frank W. Wagner, R-Virginia Beach, introduced Senate Bill 262 this year. It seeks to create a state energy plan and would support efforts to end the federal moratorium.

The United States produces almost all of the natural gas it needs. But U.S. gas fields are aging and producing less, while demand is growing 2 percent to 3 percent yearly. As a result, the price has climbed from $2 to $4 per 1,000 cubic feet in the late 1990s to $8 to $12 now.

A U.S. Interior Department agency has estimated that 11.7 trillion cubic feet of gas and 1.2 billion barrels of oil could lie off the mid-Atlantic coast, of which roughly 11 percent would be off Virginia.

Recognizing that no gas or oil may be found off Virginia's coast, Schewel has recommended that exploration be allowed with certain conditions, including that:

--Virginia and the nation develop an energy policy with efficiency "as the backbone," coupled with increasing conventional and alternative resources;

--the public be given ample chance to participate in environmental assessments;

--no wells be drilled closer than 50 miles from the shoreline; no onshore facilities be allowed on the Eastern Shore; and no facilities intrude on areas important to tourism or the military.

Brett Vassey, president of the Virginia Manufacturers Association, said his group supports creation of an energy plan.

The scenery from Virginia's coasts needs to be protected, but Vassey, who served on Schewel's advisory group, said the 50-mile limit seems extreme. He also questioned a ban on Eastern Shore facilities, saying that could deprive counties there of gas revenue.

Jim Kibler of Virginia Natural Gas called Schewel's report a positive and thorough study.

The utility, which serves the Hampton Roads area, supports Wagner's energy-plan legislation, Kibler said.

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Copyright (c) 2006, Richmond Times-Dispatch, Va.

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ATG,

Source: Richmond Times-Dispatch

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