Virginia Jobs and Energy Act

Virginia Jobs and Energy Act

Directs the Secretary of the Interior to: (1) conduct lease sale 220 within one year after enactment of this Act, and (2) include at least two lease sales in the Virginia lease sale planning area in each five-year oil and gas leasing program that applies after the current leasing program.

Prohibits any oil or natural gas exploration, development, or production off the Virginia coast that would conflict with a military operation. Directs the Secretary and the Secretary of Defense (DOD) periodically to review and revise a specified Memorandum of Agreement concerning such operations to account for new offshore energy production technologies, including those using wind energy.

Allocates 37.5% of new leasing revenues received by the United States each fiscal year under any lease issued under this Act for payment to states affected with respect to the leases under which those revenues are received by the United States.

Sets forth a payments allocation schedule for states within 200 miles of the leased tract.

Exempts from environmental impact statement requirements under the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA) any project determined by the Secretary to be an offshore meteorological site testing and monitoring project.

Defines such project as one administered by the Department of the Interior and carried out on or in the waters of the Outer Continental Shelf to test or monitor weather (including wind, tidal, current, and solar energy) using towers, buoys, or other temporary ocean infrastructure and that: (1) causes less than one acre of surface or seafloor disruption at the location of each meteorological tower or other device and no more than five acres of surface or seafloor disruption within the proposed area affected by the project (including hazards to navigation); (2) is decommissioned within five years of its commencement; and (3) provides meteorological information to the Secretary.

Directs the Secretary to: (1) require that any applicant seeking to conduct such a project obtain a permit and right of way; (2) determine, within 30 days after receiving an application, whether to issue such a permit and right of way; (3) provide an opportunity for public comment; (4) consult with DOD, the Commandant of the Coast Guard, and the heads of other federal, state, and local agencies affected by issuance of the permit and right of way; and (5) provide an applicant the opportunity to remedy deficiencies in an application that was denied.

Written by the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service. All summary versions on Congress.gov