To VA’s DMME:

I request that you include the development of the natural gas industry as part of the Virginia Energy Plan Virginia’s natural gas industry has a proven safety record and has been operating in an environmentally sound and safe manner for the past 85 years. I refer you to your own Division of Gas & Oil to verify this record.

I live in Virginia and I am employed by Virginia’s natural gas industry. Virginia’s natural gas industry is an important economic driver in the Commonwealth. The jobs it provides, the taxes its producers, associated companies and distributors pay to the state and to local governments are vital to the economy.

A recent American Petroleum Institute study shows that the direct, indirect and induced number of jobs provided by the oil and gas industry in Virginia is 125,500 jobs provides nearly $7.0 billion in wages and contributes nearly $12.0 billion to the state’s economy.

Virginia’s natural gas industry has made it a priority to focus on the safe and environmentally sound production, extraction and transportation of its natural gas resources. I am writing today to ask that you include the development of the natural gas industry as part of the Virginia Energy Plan currently under review.

Not only has Virginia’s natural gas industry exhibited a proven safety record, but it has also demonstrated an environmentally sound approach to development for the past 85 years which has resulted in providing a safe and beautiful habitat for many of Virginia’s wildlife species. That includes, the successful reintroduction of elk, which had been absent from the Virginia landscape for 150 years, into a Virginia locality. The attention industry has given to the use of proper seed mixes and its overall reclamation practices have been attributed as a major reason for that success by other Virginia state agencies.

Virginia’s natural gas industry has been operating in a safe manner for some 85 years. The processes it uses in the development of this valuable natural resource in Virginia are proven. I offer in support of that, the attached list of what experts have to say about the natural gas industry.

I encourage the Commonwealth of Virginia to continue its support of development of the natural gas industry as it moves forward in its review and implementation of Virginia’s Energy Plan.