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. e• A RESOLUTION OPPOSING OFFSHORE OIL AND GAS EXPLORATION, INCLUDING SEISMIC TESTING AND DRILLING. WHEREAS, on January 4, 2018 the U.S. Secretary of the Interior announced a draft proposal to lease areas off the Atlantic coast, including the coast of Virginia, for oil and gas exploratory testing and drilling; and WHEREAS, in 2010 a similar proposal was scheduled to proceed but was cancelled after the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico starkly demonstrated the serious risks of offshore drilling; and WHEREAS, Governor Ralph S. Northam has announced Virginia's opposition to the offshore drilling proposal, and has requested that areas off the coast of Virginia be exempted; and WHEREAS, on February 15, 2018 the Hampton Roads Planning District Commission unanimously approved a motion to take action in opposition to offshore drilling near the Virginia Coast and to request that the waters off the coast of Virginia be excluded from the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management's next iteration of the five year oil and gas leasing program; and WHEREAS, the Department of Defense has updated its 2010 findings on outer continental shelf oil and gas activities, noting new mission requirements, including expanded weapon and sensor footprints, and operational concerns in the Mid - Atlantic Planning Area that includes areas off Virginia's coast; and WHEREAS, the City of Portsmouth highly values the United States Navy and Coast Guard and opposes any action that would make their mission more difficult; and WHEREAS, the tourism and commercial fishing industries are vital to the economies of Virginia and Hampton Roads, and both could be devastated by an offshore energy exploration catastrophe; and WHEREAS, federal, state and local governments and other community groups have spent billions of dollars in funding and other resources in an effort to improve and maintain the condition of regional waterways, including the Chesapeake Bay; and WHEREAS, the speculative benefit of oil and gas drilling is not worth the risk of a Deepwater Horizon -type incident that could cripple the regional environment and economy for decades; NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED by the Council of the City of Portsmouth, Virginia: