President Obama on Saturday said he would expand domestic oil production and speed evaluation of oil and gas resources along the Atlantic coast — an issue that has been near and dear to Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell since his 2009 campaign. The direct effect of Obama’s new plan on Virginia is unclear. But the state was first in line to take advantage of the president’s decision last year to open up large swaths of the eastern seaboard to oil and natural gas drilling before the Deepwater Horizon disaster in the Gulf of Mexico last April derailed that initiative. Obama instituted a moratorium on off-shore drilling following that oil spill.

McDonnell has made oil and natural gas exploration off the coast of Virginia a key part of his broader plan to make Virginia the “energy capital of the East Coast” — recently touting offshore energy outside of a Richmond-area gas station.