Fracking and how it is done....

Can "Wind Energy" pay for itself?....

JMU ~James Madison University~ mounted on a tall tower along route 81 in Harrisonburg Virginia...

Near Fairfield Virginia in the backyard of a private residence....

Augusta County Virginia near Fishersville...

Several wind towers in the local area of Augusta County. I drive past several of these each day on the way to and back from work and good to see the effort being made to harness the wind in the Valley. Unfortunately it seems most of these wind machines do not produce enough electricity to pay for themselves over the years and without the grants and tax breaks provided by the FedGov many of these would not exist...

The Oil Drum has an interesting article on these smaller wind units and why they do not produce enough to cover their expense....

"Two real-world tests performed in the Netherlands and in the UK confirm our earlier analysis that small wind turbines are a fundamentally flawed technology. Their financial payback time is much longer than their life expectancy, and in urban areas, some poorly placed wind turbines will not even deliver as much energy as needed to operate them (let alone energy needed to produce them). Given their long payback period relative to their life expectancy, most small wind turbines are net energy consumers rather than net energy producers."

While the rest of the world develops offshore wind farms we continue to delay this use of technology and resource because somebody might see a turbine way off in the distance from the beach or Ted Kennedy's backyard....

"The Thanet farm, will be able to produce 300MW of electricity from 100 turbines - enough to power over 20,000 homes. It will be the biggest offshore facility of its kind until the even larger London Array, which has an eventual goal of 340 turbines, is completed. Thanet will dwarf the nearby Kentish Flats facility off Whitstable, also run by Vattenfall and using similar Vestas turbines."

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The "Day After Tomorrow" Marketing agenda....

I have been following the "Letters to the Editor" section of the Roanoke Times newspaper regarding the recent story of a 100 sq. mile section of the Arctic's Petermann Glacier that broke off of Greenland and with that "Environmentalists say Arctic ice melt caused by global warming"...

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These letters first caught my attention when Chris Hall, a aerospace engineering professor from Blacksburg VA, responded to a "rant" by a Associated Press writer that the Roanoke Times printed and that eluded to a 20ft sea level rise if this 100 sq\mile Chunk-O-Ice was to melt....

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Hall came up with some great calculations showing that if this "Chunk" was to melt and raise the sea level by 20 ft as stated by the AP writer the Ice Chunk "the 100-square-mile ice sheet would have to be more than 5,000 miles thick to produce the (devastating) global sea rise"....

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After reading this response by Hall and studying the calculations for a bit I went back to the original article written by the AP writer and how the Roanoke Times presented the article, and found how the wording by the AP writer cleverly twisted the description of a "20-ft rise" in the sea level...

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"Few images can capture the world's climate fears like a 100-square- mile (260-square-kilometer) chunk of ice breaking off Greenland's vast ice sheet, a reservoir of freshwater that if it collapsed would raise global sea levels by a devastating 20 feet (6 meters)."...

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So if the entire "Greenland's vast ice sheet" was to melt, if possible, would that result in the "20-ft sea level rise" as presented by the AP writer or is it if the 100 sq\mile ice chunk melting and raising the sea levels by 20-feet?....

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Its all how you read it but from what I see talking to people at work and friends many believe, and worry, that if the 100 sq\mile chunk melts we are all going to treading water. Those who read the initial statement and think about it soon understand it would take the entire "Greenland vast ice shelf" to melt, possible(?), to result in any significant sea level rise. A misunderstanding that I am sure the AP writer could have prevented if he wanted to or maybe the writer intended to get the "Global Warming Spin" that he did from many in the public...

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I contacted Chris Hall and asked him about the wording and he agreed that any(?) significant sea level rise would only come from the entire "vast ice shelf" melting and this is why he responded with his calculations to the AP article printed by the Roanoke Times... I would love to see the actual calculations if the "entire vast ice shelf" was to melt for I doubt the AP writer had any realistic calculations done and just pulled the "20-ft" rise number out of the air, which I am sure he would claim was abnormally warm from "Global Warming"....

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Before writing this I rented the movie "The Day After Tomorrow" and it took about 15 minutes into it before all reality flew out the window and the agenda was revealed, but the graphics and scenes of NYC being underwater were interesting... Far fetched, Yes, but like this movie and the phrasing used by the AP writer in the above mentioned article, this "globally warmed" spin does work with many in the public and has resulted in a Congress that might just push through a damaging environmental agenda that will result in far more then the fable 20ft rise...

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Vice-President Al Gore has been pointing towards potential rising sea levels due to global warming for years if we do not act within the next few weeks to support his agenda.

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Before moving to Virginia almost 10 years ago I lived in the Florida Keys and worked on a sportfishing boat for 6 years. The Key that I lived on had a highland elevation mark of about 4 feet as most of the Florida Keys do. To this day I call my friends in Key West every month or so to see if they are underwater yet?...

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Remember.

It's all in the agenda...

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"Nuge" gets it right...

Uncle Ted has a great piece in the Washington Times...

With the possible exception of the tobacco industry, no industry is held in more contempt and scorn than big oil. This is strangely foolish in that tobacco has been proved to cause cancer and has no beneficial use whatsoever, whereas oil literally fuels the American dream. Another clear example of the disconnect that brought us President Barack Hussein Obama.

When gas prices go up, Americans condemn big oil for making profits. When catastrophes happen, such as the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, Americans demand that big oil be severely fined, demand more government oversight of the industry by a proven incompetent Fedzilla and demand that more safety features be implemented to prevent another oil spill while expecting gas prices to stay low.

BP and other energy companies are not evil enterprises that are out to rape the environment. They are in business to make a profit and provide us affordable energy while taking prudent measures to protect the environment. Consumer demand drives production, pure and simple. No one escapes guilt from this guaranteed cause and effect.

The facts about green energy are in, and they are uglier than an oil spill in your living room. All the wind, sun and hydro energy currently provide us with about 5 percent of our energy needs. That's all the energy they are going to provide for many years to come. At this point, green energy is a fool's game that will not provide us with meaningful energy that our energy-gluttonous, unsophisticated society requires.

UVA says NO to Cuccinelli... But this is why we should be able to see the data...

UVA University of Virginia has now come back saying that they will not release the data compiled by Prof. Mann, while using taxpayer funded grant money, to come up with his famous "Hockey Stick" theory for Global Warming...

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Seems that 810 of the other scientist, who I venture to guess live on a depend on taxpayer funded grants, have gotten together to urge UVA not to release the data to the Attorney General who is investigating if any fraud is involved...

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ICECAP has some great info on why UVA and Mann should release the data for all to see and review to justify the claims of Global Warming as related to the data...

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Mann is the former UVA professor, whose “hockey stick” temperature chart was used to promote claims that “sudden” and “unprecedented” manmade global warming “threatens” human civilization and Earth itself. The hockey stick was first broken by climatologists Willie Soon and Sallie Baliunas, who demonstrated that a Medieval Warm Period and Little Ice Age were clearly reflected in historic data across the globe, but redacted by Mann. Analysts Steve McIntyre and Ross McKitrick later showed that Mann’s computer program generated hockey-stick patterns regardless of what numbers were fed into it - even random telephone numbers; that explained why the global warming and cooling of the last millennium magically disappeared in Mann’s “temperature reconstruction.”

Simple... Show us the data if there is nothing to hide... The taxpayers paid for it...

This behavior certainly gives Cuccinelli “probable cause” for launching an investigation. As the AG notes, “The same legal standards for fraud apply to the academic setting that apply elsewhere. The same rule of law, the same objective fact-finding process, will take place.” Some witch hunt...

Grants are BIG BUSINESS and at many levels...

Work by Mann and other alarmist scientists is not merely some theoretical exercise that can be permitted to “play itself out” over many years, if and when the “academic arena” gets around to it. These assertions of climate crisis are being used right now by Congress, states, courts and the Environmental Protection Agency to justify draconian restrictions on energy use and greenhouse emissions. They would shackle our freedoms and civil rights and hammer our jobs, economy, health, welfare and living standards...
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Obama now has his Attorney General Eric Holder in the Gulf claiming that they will sue and punish any company that they determine causing the Deepwater Horizon incident. Think maybe he will get the Department of Justice looking at Mann, UVA, and the "Gang"?...
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Problem with the Containment Dome...

The "Oil Drum" blog has some info on the problems with the containment dome that has been lowered over top of one of the main leaks at the Deepwater Horizon site....

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They had to wait on permits before they could use the Fire Booms?!...

I had the opportunity to listen in on a conference call hosted by (API) American Petroleum Institute regarding the operations going on at the Deepwater Horizon site…

During that call there was a question asked about reported delays of getting a required Fire Boom to the site right away to attack the oil spill while it was in a more contained area.

The question and responses can be found in the conference call transcript at the Energy Tomorrow blog at 29:42 minutes into the call….

"It has been reported that the government did not have required "Fire Booms" on hand to deal with the initial incident before the slick became so large and could have started oil burning techniques earlier". (from a media report) "If U.S. officials had followed up on a 1994 response plan for a major Gulf oil spill, it is possible that the spill could have been kept under control and far from land."

But if you look at a response to the question at 30:39 into the conference call you find that it took days to get the required permit to actually use the fire boom. "It did take time to get the permit. I was told it took a couple of days to get the permit"...

Are you telling me that while the above fire was being fought for days in the Gulf of Mexico and with required equipment on site and more coming that they had to wait on "Permits" before they could use the Fire Boom?...

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There have been questions asked about the slow response by the Obama administration and in fact FoxNews Chris Wallace took them to task here:

WALLACE: "A number of Louisiana officials are saying that the Obama administration was slow to respond to this crisis. And I want to review the timeline of what has happened here. On April 20th, the explosion of the drilling platform. For days, BP and the Coast Guard say there is no leak. On April 24th, we're told it's leaking 1,000 barrels a day. On April 28th, the estimate is raised to 5,000 barrels a day. It's not until April 29th, nine days after the accident, that the president makes his first statement about what is now called an incident of national significance".

Gotta love Wallace and it's obvious why Obama will not come onto FoxNews and really "Face the Nation" for fear of hard questions without a pass from Wallace...

Or maybe the Obama administration was taking the advice of the President's Chief of Staff when he said "You never let a serious crisis go to waste. And what I mean by that it's an opportunity to do things you think you could not do before.”
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The Virginia Right blog has info that the Obama administration in fact knew the cause for the explosion and fire on the Deepwater Horizon rig the first day it happened....
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Mr. President... Thinking about turning off that Oil Valve?...

President Obama and his crew of Cabinet players have been busy following the advice of the President’s Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel when he said “You never let a serious crisis go to waste. And what I mean by that it's an opportunity to do things you think you could not do before.” And now it is evident that the gang in DC will do their best to blame, accuse, attack, fine, and portray the oil producing industry as the evil empire to the citizens of the United States at every opportunity since the Deepwater Horizon incident in the Gulf of Mexico…

But simple observations of the Administrations players since the explosion and sinking of the oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico makes it apparent the administrations lack of coordination, response, knowledge, and their true agenda with this incident…

Yesterday I heard a interview with Chris Wallace who had an interview with Secretary of Homeland Defense Janet Napolitano where he asked Napolitano what BP needed to do concerning the spreading oil slick that was headed towards land. Napolitano said “BP needed to do more” to stop the leak. Napolitano said “BP needed to do more” to control the oil on the surface. Napolitano said “BP needed to do more” to protect the shorelines…. Chris Wallace asked Secretary Napolitano several times what exactly BP specifically needed to do but Napolitano could only repeat the “BP needed to do more” mantra with no specific solution or actions offered. Truth is she did not have a clue as to what is needed to be done and is only out their to repeat the pre-packaged response from the Obama administration which is a prime example of the above “Never let a crisis go to waste” quote from the President’s Chief of staff… It is now obvious why Obama would never go onto FoxNews during the campaign or now to answer hard questions like the ones coming from Chris Wallace…

Would have loved to hear Wallace ask Secretary of Homeland Defense Janet Napolitano why were SWAT teams sent to other oil rigs in the gulf and if there is fear of a terrorist strike?… Why did you send SWAT teams to the rigs to inspect the rigs and for what? Is there info that this was an act of terrorism? Why else would you be sending SWAT teams to other oil rigs?

Then there was the quote from Secretary of Interior Ken Salazar when he met with BP management and engineers where he urged them “work harder and faster and smarter to get the job done”… Now there is some leadership and advice coming from a administration on the ball…

But Salazar did follow up with his version of taking advantage of a “crisis” when he said “We cannot rest and will not rest until BP permanently seals the wellhead and until they clean up every drop of oil” to assign blame on BP and the industry… Once again, place all blame on BP before you know exactly what happened. Why were those SWAT teams sent to the oil rigs again?…

So go ahead Mr. President. Blame BP and the oil industry for this disaster, or terrorist strike, or whatever the cause of the incident. Use this “crisis” opportunity to make this “Other than Green” energy industry out to be the evil empire that is the cause of all environmental problems in the world without acknowledging the importance of affordable energy to keep this nation running and producing…

The Obama administration, it’s Democratic party members in Congress, their environmental allies, Global Warming drones, and one-sided mainstream alphabet media outlets have focused for years on broadcasting the “obscene” billions made by the Oil\Gas industry in profits with it being “unfair”. But yet they fail to show or educate their simple minded followers, and voters, who do not comprehend how simple economics work and how it effects us all…

But let us look at what the oil companies have paid the government(s) over the years as compared to their profits: “over the past 25 years, oil companies directly paid or remitted more than $2.2 trillion in taxes, after adjusting for inflation, to federal and state governments—including excise taxes, royalty payments and state and federal corporate income taxes. That amounts to more than three times what they earned in profits during the same period, according to the latest numbers from the Bureau of Economic Analysis and U.S. Department of Energy.”

Where is John Gault?...

With all that tax revenue over the years you would think our “all knowing” and “all caring” government would have the essential equipment on hand for a major oil spill like this. Turns out they Did NOT have the needed booms required to burn off the oil when it was first concentrated in the early days of the incident. But reading this you find that our government(s) have failed us again. To quote Sec Home\Defense Napolitano: our Govt. “needed to do more”….

Howard Johnson ~Lexington VA~ Wind Power...

I have passed this Howard Johnson which is on the southbound side of Rt. 81 near Lexington Virginia many times and have noticed the two "egg~beater" wind mills on the roof several times in full operation. In fact most of the times that I have passed by this location they are moving and producing some type of windpower that I envision is being used by the Inn...

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Great idea and good to see a business using a alternative form of available energy to operate their business with but not sure how much these two windmills actually produce. Hope to find out more information on the unit and their output and efficiency...

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Only problem I can see is that I probably would be the guest who got the room located under one of the windmills after a long day of driving and listen to a vibration all night long....

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Time for Virginia to move forward towards energy independence....

Virginia Offshore operations in Oil, Natural Gas, Tidal, and Wind power will all contribute towards making Virginia Energy Independent along with creating many jobs and produce revenues that will help the State. It is time to move forward as a State and to do what is right for the Citizens of Virginia... It is no surprise to see Congressmen Bob Goodlatte involved in this very important action... More info on the Virginia Energy Summit...

WASHINGTON, March 25—American Petroleum Institute President and CEO Jack Gerard commented on a bipartisan bill introduced today by Virginia Congressmen Bob Goodlatte, Glenn Nye, Robert Wittman, Rick Boucher, Frank Wolf, Tom Perriello, Eric Cantor and Randy Forbes to take legislative action to move forward with Lease Sale 220, an oil and natural gas lease sale offshore Virginia, originally scheduled for 2011, but put on hold by the Interior Department:

“We commend this bipartisan effort to allow oil and natural gas leasing in federal waters offshore Virginia, a policy that more than two in three citizens of the commonwealth support. Virginians – along with their governor, both of their Democratic senators, much of the congressional delegation and the city council of Virginia Beach, off which much of the development would take place – understand that offshore leasing and development can bring much-needed jobs and revenues to the state, especially with a workable revenue-sharing provision.

“Already, the oil and natural gas industry supports over 143,000 jobs in Virginia, and it is poised to create many more – including well-paying exploration and production positions – if leasing off Virginia is allowed. And developing oil and natural gas resources off Virginia’s coast could generate nearly $19.5 billion in revenues for federal, state and local governments, according to ICF International, money that could be used to improve ailing roadways and fund education or other critical state needs.

“The federal government estimates that the proposed Sale 220 area contains about 130 million barrels of oil and 1.14 trillion cubic feet of natural gas. But an ICF study that takes into consideration the newest technologies for finding resources estimates total federal resources offshore Virginia at half a billion barrels of oil and more than 2.5 trillion cubic feet of natural gas. That’s enough oil to fuel all 4 million cars in Virginia for more than four years and enough gas to heat all 3.2 million Virginia households for more than 11 years.

“Now is the time to allow leasing, and environmentally responsible development, for the benefit of Virginia and the entire nation.”

"Significant new oil find in the Gulf"... We Need Offshore Drilling in Virginia!!...

It has been reported that there has been a "Significant new oil discovery" in the deepwater of the Gulf of Mexico and it is the result of some very impressive technology, investment, and effort...

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The find is located in the Appomattox prospect area in the Mississippi Canyon. The well was drilled through more than 7,200 feet of water to a total depth of 25,077 feet where it found a 530'-thick layer containing oil.

A published report indicates the discovery is estimated to hold at least 100 million barrels of oil.

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The above video is from the recent "Summit on Virginia's Energy Future" at which time Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell describes how 37.5% of the royalties coming from the Gulf of Mexico goes directly to the Gulf States and their budgets...

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We NEED to develop the known energy sources offshore of the Virginia coast to benefit the Citizens of Virginia and the United States...

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Wood Waste for Energy Production...

In today's NewsLeader there was an article about harnessing energy from processing the waste wood that ends up in the local landfill only to decay and produce methane gas that would otherwise be released into the atmosphere...

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This process is already in use in California and info \ description can be found here....

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Interesting article and another energy source that Virginia needs to look at. In fact it was discussed at the recent "Summit on Virginia's Energy Future" which I had the opportunity to attend. Yet another form of energy that is from "All of the above" options that Virginia needs to look at and consider...
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I took a hike yesterday up near Humpback Rocks and found a large increase of downed trees along the trail near the Appalachian Trail. Now I know that this is not the type of woodwaste that is being considered as an energy source described above, but there is an incredible amount of deadwood on the ground of our State\National forests...
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All of these dead trees are decomposing and contributing large amounts of CO2 and Methane gasses that many fear contribute to global warming...
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What are we to do with this problem?
Many eco-groups and anti-logging people are against the use of proper Forest management and it has been shown many times in the local media. But does that deal with this problem?
Is it a problem?
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Virginia Energy Summit "All of the above"...

That was the answer coming from the President and Chief Nuclear Officer from Dominion Virginia Power when he was asked how Virginia was going to meet the increased energy demand in Virginia’s future…

He went on to explain that there is no one energy source available to Virginia to meet it’s energy needs and that it will take a combination of many different forms of energy production. Some may feel it odd or strange coming from a “Nuclear” guy that he was not pushing for an increase in nuclear production, but like many assembled at this summit, we all know it will take investment in many available forms of energy to fill the need….

Forms of energy such as: Coal
Wind \ Solar
Nuclear
Conservation “The fifth energy”
Oil \ Natural Gas

Another interesting point made was that 60+% of the increased demand for energy in Virginia came from behind existing meters showing that it is not new growth but higher demand in locations with more and bigger toys to run. Homes with multiple computers, flat screen T.V. / monitors, and energy hungry electronics…

“This is not just an issue for Congress to deal with but an important issue that Virginia must also deal with“.

Additional Post on the Summit....

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Virginia Energy Summit ~Lt. Governor Bill Bolling~

Virginia Lt. Governor Bill Bolling at the Virginia Energy Summit last week in Richmond...

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Bolling explains that the funds needed for education, transportation, and other State programs will need to come from a growing and sustainable economy in Virginia...

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Additional posts from the Summit

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Virginia Energy Summit ~Governor Bob McDonnell~

Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell at the "Summit on Virginia's Energy Future" held in Richmond where he spoke about the diverse energy sources now established in Virginia as well as the many potential energy sources available...

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Additional Energy Summit posts...

Virginia Energy Summit....

Attended the "Summit on Virginia's Energy Future" today in Richmond that was sponsored by the Virginia Manufacturers Association and the API American Petroleum Institute to explore and discuss the many established and potential energy sources available in Virginia...

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Very informative session and had the opportunity to hear numerous speakers regarding the future of Virginia's energy demands and energy sources. This summit discussed the many aspects of providing diverse sources of energy now and in the future...

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Guest speakers to this event also included Governor Bob McDonnell and Lt. Governor Bill Bolling who discussed their efforts to expand potential energy sources such as offshore Natural Gas, Wind power, and Oil drilling as well as other forms of potential energy sources on land...

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Above video is Mike Ward, Executive Director of the Virginia Petroleum Council and Erik Milito, Director of Upstream & Industry Operations API introducing the summit. There was an incredible amount of information provided and RightsideVA will post numerous topics in the near future...

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Additional Energy Summit Posts...