Drilling inside the Chesapeake Bay and off the coast of Virginia would completely destroy the ecosystem in the Chesapeake Bay area forever. All of Virginia's waters would become a toxic dump, and the residents of Norfolk and Virginia Beach would have to inhale toxic fumes from the burning methane and watch their beloved beaches get covered with mats and balls of tar.

We can act now to pressure Congress, the Governor, and the President to invest in alternative forms of energy such as wind energy (Denmark produces one quarter of all of its electrical needs through wind turbines, so wind turbines could be set up in the bay). Virginia could become a green region rather than share the gloomy fate of the Louisiana coastline. Right now, offshore drilling at the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay is considered an inevitable reality by the vast majority of elected officials who have received campaign contributions from oil and natural gas lobbyists. The small amount of oil that could be found in the Bay region will just be a blip on the screen compared to worldwide consumption of oil, and as oil becomes more scarce, we need to invest in alternative sources of energy that are safer and more environmentally sensitive.

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Above is an image of the current BP spill superimposed over the entire Chesapeake Bay (source: Chesapeake Bay Foundation).

"President Obama in March proposed opening up parts of the Virginia coast near the mouth of the bay to oil and gas drilling. Although action on that has been suspended pending an investigation into the Gulf incident, environmentalists and U.S. Sens. Benjamin L. Cardin and Barbara A. Mikulski (D-Md.) remain against any offshore drilling or exploration along the mid-Atlantic coast."

--- Baltimore Sun

Milton Copulos did not mince words Monday at a VIP forum on possible drilling for natural gas and oil off Virginia’s coast. “Sooner or later, we are going to have to do it,” said Copulos, president of The National Defense Foundation, a Washington think tank. The government, he said, can either start the drilling process now, with environmental protections in place, “or when people are shooting each other in gas lines.” Milton Copulos did not mince words Monday at a VIP forum on possible drilling for natural gas and oil off Virginia’s coast. “Sooner or later, we are going to have to do it,” said Copulos, president of The National Defense Foundation, a Washington think tank. The government, he said, can either start the drilling process now, with environmental protections in place, “or when people are shooting each other in gas lines.”

-- Scott Harper, Virginia Pilot, "Expert says offshore drilling inevitable"

http://hamptonroads.com/node/110811

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