WASHINGTON —U.S. Senators Jim Webb (D-VA) and Mark R. Warner (D-VA) today again urged the Obama Administration, in a letter to the Secretary of the Interior, to include areas off the coast of Virginia in the Department's upcoming leasing plan. The letter also called on the Department to revise the map of the mid-Atlantic Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) to more accurately reflect Virginia’s energy resources.

“In this time of economic challenges, developing offshore resources could provide revenue to the U.S. treasury as well as a future source of funding for important state priorities such as transportation, land and water conservation and alternative energy development,” the senators wrote. “We look forward to working with you to ensure that Virginia’s OCS energy resources are developed in a timely fashion, through a fair distribution of revenues between the federal and state government, and in an environmentally sound manner.”

Senator Webb and Senator Warner have repeatedly urged the Obama Administration to keep Virginia's Outer Continental lease sale on schedule.  In July 2011, the senators introduced the Virginia Outer Continental Shelf Energy Production Act of 2011, which included revenue-sharing provisions and would expand the federal government’s map of the mid-Atlantic exploration area to more accurately reflect the extent of Virginia’s coastal resources.  In 2008, Senator Webb cosponsored similar legislation with Republican Senator John Warner.