Statement of Governor Bob McDonnell on President's Offshore Energy Plan!

On March 31st, 2010, President Barack Obama announced that Virginia will be the first state on the East Coast to explore for and produce natural gas and oil offshore. Governor Bob McDonnell has been a longtime proponent of this important policy since the federal moratorium on Atlantic drilling ended in 2008. Coastal exploration and drilling that will lead to thousands of new jobs and billions in economic impact in Virginia.

FLASHBACK: 'When I'm President, I Intend to Keep in Place the Moratorium Here in Florida'... (Lies, all lies!)
In June 2008, then-Sen. Obama told reporters in Jacksonville, Florida, "when I'm president, I intend to keep in place the moratorium here in Florida and around the country that prevents oil companies from drilling off Florida's coasts. That's how we can protect our coastline and still make the investments that will reduce our dependence on foreign oil and bring down gas prices for good."
In July 2008, he said, of lifting moratoriums on offshore drilling, that "if there were real evidence that these steps would actually provide real, immediate relief at the pump and advance the long-term goal of energy independence, of course I'd be open to them. But so far there isn't."
But his Republican opponents -- Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., and perhaps even more so, his running mate, then-Gov. Sarah Palin, with her "drill, baby, drill" chant -- used the issue to paint Obama as a stubborn ideologue.
But by August, then-Sen. Obama signaled that he was willing to support legislation that included off-shore drilling as part of a bipartisan compromise.

Senate President Jeff Atwater, R-North Palm Beach, says President Obama's push for more offshore drilling won't help a plan from his fellow Republicans to open drilling as close as three miles of Florida's beaches.

WH's Bill Burton Rebuffs 'Drill Baby, Drill' -- It's 'Drill Where It's Responsible'