CHINCOTEAGUE, Va. (Delmarva Now) — Corey Stewart, the Republican candidate for U.S. Senate, told a group in Chincoteague he supports offshore oil and gas drilling.
Stewart covered a wide range of topics during the meet-and-greet event, ranging from his support for keeping Confederate monuments in place to comments about the recent confirmation of Brett Kavanaugh as an associate justice on the United States Supreme Court.
Around three dozen people came to the Hampton Inn to hear Stewart speak on Saturday, Oct. 13.
Stewart, an international trade attorney and chairman of the Prince William County Board of Supervisors, is challenging incumbent Tim Kaine, a Democrat and former Virginia governor who has been in the Senate since 2013, in the Nov. 6 election.
"I'm very familiar with the Eastern Shore; I've spent a lot of time here," Stewart said, adding, "I know how important the Eastern Shore is to all of Virginia — Wallops Island, everything; there's so much here."
Stewart spoke about the administration's proposal for offshore oil and gas exploration and drilling off the East Coast, including Virginia.
Asked by an audience member whether he is in favor of drilling for oil and gas off the coast, Stewart said, "Absolutely, yes ... I'm 100 percent in favor of offshore drilling."
Asked about safety concerns with the industry, he said, "There's got to be a balance; but I think during the Obama years, there clearly was not a balance. The Democrats were against everything," he said.
Now that Donald Trump is president, "Tim Kaine is against anything that the president wants to do, anything that the Republicans want to do, anything that energy producers want to do. Look what the Democrats did to the coal industry here in the Commonwealth of Virginia — they almost killed it," Stewart said
"Thank goodness, because we have a president who is actually pro-coal, who has already lifted up a lot of these unnecessary regulations — and now you've got the coal industry coming back, and that's great for southwest Virginia — actually, it's great for the whole region."
Stewart said he is "pro- all forms of energy," including wind and solar, but also offshore oil and gas, and coal.
He said having all the forms of energy production in the United States — including offshore drilling and the coal industry — is "not just important for jobs," but also for national energy security.
"Because of the policies of President Trump, the United States today is now the largest combined oil and gas producer in the world — and if we can keep this going, if we can keep this administration in power, and we can provide some support for the president in the United States Senate — because this is how important this position is, folks — if we can flip this position here in Virginia from Democrat, or Democrat Socialist, Tim Kaine over to a pro-Trump conservative like myself, we will be flipping so many things in our direction — number one, we are going to build a wall," he said.
Stewart predicted by 2022, if current trends continue, the United States will be a net exporter of oil and gas and other energy resources.
"That's good for our trade deficit. That means that we are actually producing wealth. That means that we're actually gaining more wealth for American and more prosperity for our country, rather than spending it abroad on oil and gas resources," he said.
Additionally, a substantial number of U. S. military forces today are "bogged down in the Middle East" due to the nation's dependence of foreign oil, Stewart said.
If that dependence lessens, those forces can be pulled out of that region and deployed elsewhere, he said.
The Chincoteague Town Council in August approved a resolution opposing offshore oil and gas drilling off the Virginia coast.
Accomack and Northampton County officials previously approved similar resolutions.
The federal government's proposed final, five-year offshore leasing program plan is expected to be released next fall.
Additionally, Republican Congressman Scott Taylor, who represents the 2nd District, told a group at the annual State of our Waters event on the Eastern Shore earlier this year he had officially come out against offshore drilling.
Kaine, a former Virginia governor and Democratic vice presidential candidate, whose position on offshore drilling has evolved over time, quickly weighed in against exploration and drilling off the Virginia coast after the administration's January announcement.
Kaine spoke about his position at a roundtable he convened on the Eastern Shore in April to discuss the issue.
Community leaders from Northampton and Accomack counties at the roundtable presented a united front in opposition to oil drilling off the coast of Virginia's Eastern Shore.
Stewart during the Chincoteague event also spoke about military spending, Confederate monuments, Brett Kavanaugh and immigration, among other topics.
Additionally, Stewart said he favors term limits for Congress.
"Two terms in the Senate is enough for anybody," he said.
Calling Kaine "a bootlicker" who is beholden to "radical left-wingers who are committing violence against American citizens," Stewart said about himself, "I was Trump before Trump was Trump."
Stewart predicted it will be a close race between the two candidates, saying, "We are going to be up very late on Nov. 6, because this election is going to be very close."
