Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, March 3, 1991                   TAG: 9103030104
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-7   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: NEWPORT NEWS                                LENGTH: Short

WILDER OBJECTS TO OIL, GAS EXPLORATION

State policy for years has opposed oil and gas drilling within 50 miles of the Virginia coast. The area targeted by the U.S. Department of Interior is about 35 miles off the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay.

"We intend to be as protective to the Chesapeake Bay and its environs as past administrations have been," said Laura Dillard, spokeswoman for Gov. Douglas Wilder. "We're looking at the 50-mile zone and beyond it."

The federal plan identifies thousands of tracts where oil and gas exploration would be allowed. They are along the East Coast from New Jersey to Georgia, in the Gulf of Mexico from Florida to Texas and along the coasts of California and Alaska.

"The 50-mile limit is a precaution against the inevitability of small-scale spills or the possibility of a large-scale spill," said Keith J. Buttleman, administrator of the state Council on the Environment.

An official response to the plan is expected to be sent to the Interior Department in late April.