The nation has watched in horror as the oil slick from the British Petroleum rig in the Gulf of Mexico approached the ecologically fragile wetlands of the Louisiana coast, and I found myself among those thinking, “We cannot let this happen in Virginia.”
For once, I found myself agreeing with Peter, who wrote in a previous post: “Big Oil with its Big Money would not be the only industry along Virginia’s coast that [Gov. Bob McDonnell] is sworn to protect. Consider the fishing, tourism and commercial shipping sectors, not to mention the U.S. Navy, Air Force and Coast Guard which use offshore Virginia waters and pump in billions to the state’s economy.”
But before we conclude that offshore drilling cannot possibly be conducted safely off the Virginia coast, let us bear in mind the vast differences between conditions in the Gulf and conditions in Virginia. The BP rig is drilling in 5,000 feet of deep water — pushing the technological envelope for operating in extreme conditions. Any drilling that takes place in Virginia would be on the continental shelf in shallow water (shallow by oil industry standards).
Andrea Shea King posts on her website a fascinating description of the disaster, which details the engineering challenges of operating in deep water. The question for Virginians is this: How likely are these conditions likely to be replicated off our coast? To what extent do risks of oil spills increase with the depth of the ocean bed? Does it make sense for the state to permit drilling at certain depths with exceedingly low risk and to prohibit drilling at deeper depths where risks are greater?
Assuredly, some people will use the BP disaster as an excuse to limit all drilling under all circumstances. Let’s keep our cool and ascertain all the facts before jumping to any conclusions.