The U.S. Senate on Wednesday blocked Republican efforts to pass a bill that would direct the Obama administration to re-open lease sales in the Gulf of Mexico and off of Virginia’s coast that had been halted in the wake of the Deepwater Horizon spill last year.
But Congress also has to sign off on a measure to allow Virginia to reap any of the revenues from the lease sales – which is why U.S. Sen. Jim Webb, D-Va., voted against the measure.
“I have long advocated opening up more of the nation’s outer continental shelf resources to responsible natural gas and oil exploration,” said Webb. “However, states deserve fair access to their own oil and gas reserves and an equitable share of any revenues from the sale of their offshore resources. Senator McConnell’s legislation falls short of this goal and would deny Virginia the ability to benefit financially from drilling along its own coastline.”
In 2008, Webb co-sponsored legislation with then-Senator John Warner to allow Virginia to conduct exploration activities – with revenue-sharing provisions — and has urged the administration to keep the lease sale off of Virgina’s coast on schedule.
The vote is the latest in a series of partisan back-and-forth proposals over energy plans on Capitol Hill as gas prices hit $4 a gallon. On Tuesday, Democrats failed to gain the necessary 60 votes to overcome a Republican filibuster that would end tax breaks for big oil companies.
Republican George Allen, meanwhile, who is running to replace the retiring Webb in Virginia, used Wednesday’s vote as another opportunity to attack Washington policies — sneaking in a dig at his opponent, Democrat Tim Kaine, in the process.
“Once again, Tim Kaine’s liberal allies in the U.S. Senate are standing in the way of Virginians seeking the freedom to safely explore for oil and natural gas,” said Allen. “By voting against Senator McConnell’s bill, Senator Harry Reid and his liberal followers in Washington made it clear that they are more interested in finding taxes to fuel their wasteful spending than they are in finding energy to fuel America’s economy.”
Kaine, meanwhile, has come out in favor of ending the tax breaks, a notion that Allen’s campaign derided.
“As Congress debates the best approach to reduce government spending and get our fiscal house in order, I strongly believe that a good first step toward that goal is eliminating tax breaks to major oil companies,” said Kaine. “American families are paying exorbitant prices at the pump. There’s no reason that big oil companies should be receiving special tax breaks while they gouge consumers with high gas prices and make record profits.”
