Gov. Bob McDonnell travels to BP-funded conference to push for more oil drilling.

[Joanne98]

As crews take action to stop the massive flow of oil spewing into the Gulf of Mexico, “Virginia leaders are reconsidering their support for drilling off the state’s coast.” Both of Virginia’s senators, who support drilling, said they agree with President Obama’s decision to halt all new offshore drilling until a full investigation is completed about the BP disaster. Rep. James Moran (D-VA) wrote a letter to Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, “urging him to reconsider allowing offshore drilling.” The mayor of Virginia Beach, the state’s largest city, who has also supported drilling, said the BP spill “gives me great concern.” Meanwhile, Gov. Bob McDonnell (R) “continues to lobby aggressively to drill for oil and natural gas without delay”:

McDonnell (R), who has made drilling off Virginia’s coast one of his administration’s top priorities, flew to Houston on Monday to tout the benefits of offshore drilling at an industry-sponsored conference. He told reporters before he left that he does not want to postpone drilling but to learn from the accident off Louisiana’s coast.

“What we do as Americans is we find out what went wrong and how can we do things better,” McDonnell said. “I think that’s the spirit of the American people.” <...>

McDonnell said he wants to see a full investigation into the Louisiana accident, but he still thinks that drilling could begin off Virginia’s coast as soon as next year or early 2012

http://thinkprogress.org/2010/05/04/mcdonnell-drilling-bp/

[DebbieCDC]

1. Will he change his tune when the oil is washing up on Virginia Beach?

Probably not

[BrklynLiberal]

3. He may not change his tune, but perhaps his "consituents" will not be so willing to vote for him

after they see what the oil actually looks like on their beach.

[RandomThoughts]

2. More race to the bottom.

Will there be regulations and safety in the drilling?

[virgdem]

4. this jerk makes my blood boil...

I live in Virginia Beach and would be directly affected by an oil spill from proposed drilling sites 50 miles offshore. This decision is ill conceived and dangerous for the environment and local tourism, which would be disastrous to our local economy.

[Gin]

5. new crew is nuts....from drill baby drill to covering up naked breasts

beam me up scotty.....

[RedCloud]

6. We need to have the most fucked up Republican governor today award

There are many that are in daily competition.

[Scuba]

7. Thanks Bob, for screwing the American people