The Richmond Times-Dispatch

In the face of high gas prices, Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell is right to say the commonwealth needs new offshore energy to power its ever-thirsty cars (May 5 Op/Ed, “America’s energy insecurity”). The only problem is McDonnell is talking about the wrong kind of energy for the wrong kind of cars. Pushing for dangerous offshore drilling just a few miles from Virginia Beach in 2011 is the technological equivalent of building canals during the early days of railroad. Or investing in manual typewriters in, say, 1985.

For a modern solution to our energy woes, Virginia should join New Jersey, Delaware and Maryland in developing offshore wind power, not oil. Ironically, on the same day the Deepwater Horizon rig exploded in the Gulf of Mexico last April, a panel of energy experts issued a report on Virginia’s wind-power potential at the request of the state’s General Assembly. The findings were stunning. Using modern wind turbines of the sort already deployed at 45 offshore wind sites in Europe, Virginia could harness wind power off its own coastline sufficient to power at least 750,000 homes — forever. Others have calculated that this same amount of energy could power 3.4 million electric cars, moving vehicles at the astonishing cost equivalent of about $1.30 per gallon! How’s that for pump relief?

And perhaps most amazing, the Virginia Coastal Energy Research Consortium study said this: Offshore wind farms would create at least 10,000 manufacturing and construction jobs in Virginia.

Meanwhile, Virginia has enough oil off its coast to provide, at best, about two weeks’ worth of national demand. And the jobs? McDonnell usually says “thousands” of jobs, citing a 2005 study by a former Old Dominion University president who has openly downplayed the study as rough, hurried and incomplete.

What we do know is that oil spills kill jobs. Last year’s Gulf spill, more than 1,000 miles away, cost seafood-related businesses $11.6 million in revenues — in Virginia. The losses were incurred by the state’s processors, wholesalers, grocers and restaurants who buy and sell Gulf oysters. So a Louisiana spill cost us millions. What would a Virginia spill do to the state’s economy, especially its $19 billion tourism industry?

Then, of course, there’s the fact that oil combustion contributes mightily to global climate change. An international study last week revealed that sea-level rise linked to global warming could reach a full five feet by 2100. Another study in the prestigious journal Science shows climate disruption is already harming global food production, with extreme weather contributing to a doubling of world corn prices over the past year.

And if you think all this climate stuff is bunk, call up Allstate Insurance Co. right now and try to get a new homeowner’s policy in coastal Virginia. You can’t, because the company has abandoned the coast, citing data showing that a warming Atlantic Ocean is breeding bigger storms. Why would a respected private company like Allstate lie about all this? Answer: It wouldn’t.

So it’s time to make the switch to clean, renewable wind power for our vehicles and for our future. Again, the technology is already in place all across Europe. New Jersey, meanwhile, is using tax incentives in developing 1,000 megawatts of offshore wind power. Delaware is moving forward with a 200-megawatt wind farm. And Maryland’s General Assembly this spring came very close to passing a bill to build 100 windmills off the coast of Ocean City, sufficient to power most of the state’s Eastern Shore region. The bill is expected to pass in 2012. North Carolina’s General Assembly is debating an even stronger offshore wind bill.

But in Virginia, McDonnell rejects any talk of tax incentives or other legislative mechanisms necessary to help wind power overcome the massive subsidies — direct and indirect — provided to oil, coal and natural gas. Instead the governor obsesses over giving maximum assistance to offshore drilling. The manual typewriter solution.

If we don’t act soon, large wind farms and the manufacturing plants that build them will stop within sight of Virginia’s coastline like an interstate highway system halting conspicuously at the state’s borders. We need policies that move wind power forward, including appropriate incentives for Dominion Virginia Power to begin building its own turbines and blades for deployment off the coast.

Meanwhile, make no mistake: Electric cars are coming too. At least 10 automakers will be launching plug-in models by 2012. And Ford Motor Company last month singled out its fuel-efficient cars — including hybrid electrics — as the main reason the company is recovering with strong customer demand.

The facts speak for themselves. Oil is running out worldwide. Gas prices are rising. Virginia has little oil to speak of. Climate change is accelerating. And, thank goodness, the technology for a whole new energy-vehicle paradigm is on the table.

Virginia can join this 21st century energy trend now. Or it can keep on typing by hand.