Kaine and the Atlantic OCS

Sept. 5, 2016
Has US Sen. Timothy M. Kaine (D-Va.) changed his stance toward oil and gas leasing on the Mid-Atlantic US Outer Continental Shelf? It's possible, since he's now the vice-presidential nominee on the Democrats' 2016 ticket and not simply the Old Dominion's junior US senator.

Has US Sen. Timothy M. Kaine (D-Va.) changed his stance toward oil and gas leasing on the Mid-Atlantic US Outer Continental Shelf? It's possible, since he's now the vice-presidential nominee on the Democrats' 2016 ticket and not simply the Old Dominion's junior US senator.

Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign web site doesn't mention this issue specifically. But when someone from the environmental group 350.org asked Kaine after an Aug. 13 campaign event in New Hampshire if he would support a ban on offshore drilling, Kaine replied: "You know what? I actually am now in that position because the Obama administration decided not to do offshore drilling because [the US Department of Defense] objects, and I share those views."

How does this compare with his response on Mar. 15 when US Interior Sec. Sally Jewell deleted a proposed 2021 lease sale off Virginia from the 2017-22 OCS program that was being prepared because of DOD's concerns about possible interference with its activities there had grown?

Kaine, who is a Senate Armed Services Committee member, clearly was surprised. "I have long believed that the moratorium on offshore drilling, based on a cost-benefit calculation performed decades ago, should be reexamined," he said in a statement. "Today's announcement by the [US] Bureau of Ocean Energy Management suggests that they have grappled with this question and concluded that the risks of such production outweigh potential gains."

He said he was "particularly struck by the material objections" of DOD to the incompatibility of drilling with naval operations off Virginia's coast, which BOEM cited as one of three principal reasons for its decision.

Noting that he has participated in this debate for more than a decade as Virginia's governor as well as one of its US senators, Kaine said that DOD nevertheless "has been relatively quiet during this public debate and has never shared their objections with me before," adding, "I look forward to additional discussions with DOD to understand its position."

His role has changed

It's not certain whether Kaine had those discussions in the time since. He did, however, become the Democrats' 2016 vice-presidential nominee, which requires his working as part of an already established campaign that does not look favorably on the oil and gas industry.

Kaine's support of federal OCS lease sales off Virginia, by the way, has always looked more measured than that of the state's other US senator, Mark R. Warner (D). He nevertheless has backed calls for leasing as well as sharing of federal revenue with affected counties and communities.

His positions kept evolving throughout Kaine's political career. So may his views of oil and gas activity on the Atlantic OCS.