Governor backs 'all-of-the-above strategy' on energy

Oct 13 - McClatchy-Tribune Regional News - Rex Springston, Peter Bacque Richmond Times-Dispatch, Va.

Gov. Bob McDonnell challenged business people today to suggest ways that state government can aid the development of Virginia's energy sources.

"I want to solve problems," McDonnell said. "I want to fix things."

McDonnell gave a luncheon speech at the Governor's Conference on Energy at the Greater Richmond Convention Center downtown.

About 1,000 people are attending the conference, which concludes Thursday.

Calling energy a "critically important issue," McDonnell said he favors an "all-of-the-above strategy" that involves increased development of Virginia's fossil fuels such as coal; possible alternative sources such as wind; and also nuclear power.

McDonnell renewed his call for the drilling of oil and natural gas off the Virginia coast -- a possibility that the federal government put on hold indefinitely in spring, following the Gulf of Mexico oil spill.

McDonnell said he expects the federal government eventually to allow exploratory drilling off the coast.

McDonnell also called on federal officials to speed up the issuance of permits for energy projects.

Glen Besa, director of the Virginia chapter of the Sierra Club, said the the governor offered "no new solutions or initiatives."

"This is a conference in search of a purpose," Besa said.

(This has been a breaking news update. Check back for more details as they become available. For more on the conference, see tomorrow's Richmond Times-Dispatch.)

More than a thousand business representatives, government officials, academic researchers and energy entrepreneurs filled the Greater Richmond Convention Center today for the Governor's Conference on Energy.

"Energy means jobs" for Virginia, James Cheng, the state's secretary of commerce and trade, told the conference at its opening session this morning.

Government's role, said state Secretary of Natural Resources Douglas Domenech, is to:

--Encourage cost-effective, viable energy alternatives, while supporting efforts to increase energy security

--Promote innovation without picking winners and losers

--Remove unnecessary government bureaucracy while still protecting the environment

"Get out of the way and let entrepreneurs risk their money for profit," Domenech said.

Gov. Bob McDonnell is addressing noon luncheon at the conference. Energy entrepreneur T. Boone Pickens speaks at dinner.

The conference features a number of breakout sessions and panel discussions.

Patrick Hatcher, a geochemist at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, said efforts to create fuel from algae are showing promise.

Hatcher was among the speakers this morning in a panel discussion on energy research at the conference.

Fuel can be produced from oil-rich algae in a lab, and from algae grown in one acre of lagoons near Hopewell, Hatcher said. The challenge now, he said, is to grow algae on a much bigger scale.

James McLeskey Jr., an associate professor of mechanical engineering at Virginia Commonwealth University, is working on a way to store solar heat that's generated in summer so that it can be used in winter.

A process being developed at VCU involves storing solar-generated heat in a bed of sand behind a home. A test at a Richmond-area house is under way, but results are not yet in.