C ITY OF W ILLIAMSBURG

Office of the Mayor

March 1, 2018

The Honorable Ryan Zinke

Secretary of the Interior
Department of the Interior
Mail Stop 6242
1849 C Street, NW
Washington, DC 20240-0001

RE: National Outer Continental Shelf Oil and Gas Leasing Program for 2019-2024

Mr. Secretary:

The intention of this letter is to communicate the City of Williamsburg’s strong opposition to the
inclusion of three proposed lease sites for the Mid-Atlantic region of the outer continental shelf in the
2019-2024 National OCS Oil and Gas Leasing Draft Proposed Program.

Virginia has had a long and storied relationship with our military dating back to the American Revolution.
We cherish our active duty soldiers and sailors, as well as our veterans and retirees. We support all that
they do, because they are our protectors. They are willing to sacrifice their own lives to ensure our
freedoms. We do not do that just by waving flags or self-proclaiming our patriotism. We do it through
our actions. We protect their opportunities to train so that they may do their jobs unencumbered. This is
why we created the Hampton Roads Military and Federal Facilities Alliance. This is why we fund joint
land use studies and back up their recommendations with actions. We know that we must protect our
military bases from the ever-creeping encroachment of residential or commercial development and we are
serious about this.

Why then would we just throw all of this work away? Why would we turn our backs on our traditions?
Why would we allow some unknown corporate entity, likely from outside the Commonwealth of
Virginia, to enter our precious coastal waters and establish threats to the effectiveness of our fighting
forces? This is exactly what we have worked so hard to prevent on land, so how is it any different at sea?
Why would we imperil the brave women and men of our Navy by limiting their areas of training, and
especially at a time when we have seen the tragic results that come from sacrificing training to stretch our
global presence? We would never do this as a state, and we should never allow this as a nation. It would
be unconscionable and immoral to risk lives simply for profit.

Florida was immediately exempted from the threat of offshore drilling in order to preserve their tourism
industry. If that is true, then that means the dollars from one source (tourism) are more valuable than the
dollars from another (oil), but are either sources of revenue more cherished than even one military
casualty? God help us if we have come to that point.

401 Lafayette Street, Williamsburg, Virginia 23185-3617 / (757) 220-6180 / fax (757) 259-3796 / pfreiling@williamsburgva.gov
 Additionally, please consider that the Atlantic region neighboring Virginia includes National Aeronautics
and Space Administration (NASA) and United States Department of Defense (USDOD) warning areas
used for space, air, and sea military operations including training. These Warning Areas include W122,
W72, W387 and W386. These operational areas extend nearly 100 nautical miles from the coastal
boundaries of Virginia and North Carolina. When responding to the Draft Proposed OCS Oil and Gas
Leasing Program 2010-2015 that included the same areas proposed in the current plan, the USDOD found
“significant conflicts” and discouraged oil and gas activity in the majority of the sales area.

The 2019-2024 National OCS Oil and Gas Leasing Draft Proposed Program includes three options for the
Atlantic Region. The first option provides for three sale periods in 2020, 2022 and 2024 covering the
entire Atlantic Planning Area. The second option excludes the known Atlantic Canyons from the sale.
The final option proposes to exclude a coastal buffer of 25 nautical miles from the sale. The plan states
that Option 3 is designed to “accommodate concerns such as military use”. This approach falls far short
of an accommodation if the operational area of NASA and USDOD is 100 nautical miles from the coastal
land boundary. Again, I offer a better option. Let’s not allow offshore drilling near Virginia

Sincerely,

Paul T. Freiling
Mayor, City of Williamsburg

PTF/aot

CC: Dr. Walter Cruickshank, Acting Director for the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management
Honorable Secretary James Mattis, Department of Defense
Public Comment Bureau of Ocean Energy Management

401 Lafayette Street, Williamsburg, Virginia 23185-3617 / (757) 220-6180 / fax (757) 259-3796 / pfreiling@williamsburgva.gov