Last evening, the Virginia Beach City Council passed 8-2 a resolution in support of the exploration for oil and natural gas off our shores.

Supporting: Mayor Will Sessoms, Bob Dyer, Glenn Davis, James Wood, John Uhrin, Bill DeSteph, Rita Sweet Belitto, and Rosemary Wilson.

Opposed: Vice Mayor Louis Jones, Barbara Henley, and Harry Diezel.

This is a very disappointing vote, and even more disappointing is the lack of integrity shown is Sessom’s explanation of the vote where he said, “This is the City Council showing support for the governor.”

There are definitely issues where localities should defend themselves from the intrusion of the state or federal government, and I believe offshore drilling to be one of those issues. One would think that, as a Republican, Sessoms would have leaned upon this conservative notion of governance and stood up for what’s important for Virginia Beach.

True, a resolution is not law. However, Bob McDonnell and others are going to cite resolutions from cities like Virginia Beach when making their arguments in support of offshore drilling. In addition, the passage of this resolution does not send a good signal to NASA or the Department of Defense in a time where both are warning that intrusion by offshore drilling would threaten their mission in Hampton Roads. Seeing that we’re in the midst of attempting to keep a Navy carrier from moving from Norfolk to Mayport, FL, one would think that Virginia Beach wouldn’t be quick to do anything that might make Hampton Roads less desirable for the Navy.

Unfortunately, they were quick to make Virginia Beach and the rest of Hampton Roads less desirable by passing this resolution. This vote was stepping stone in the Republican goal of drilling off of our coast, a nod toward increasing the possibility of an environmental and economic disaster with the possibility of oil spills and losing a carrier group.

The bottom line is this: Now is not the time to invest in offshore exploration for fuel sources that we as a nation should be phasing out, and I wish the eight members of the Virginia Beach City Council would realize this and take a leading role in making it a reality.

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