'Drill, baby, drill' process has begun.

http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/12/20/oil.drilling/index.html

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Remember "drill, baby drill"? In its last weeks in office, the Bush administration is starting to make it happen by quietly starting the process of exploration and drilling off the coast of Virginia.

The U.S. Interior Department has completed the first step, closing a public comment period on the proposal to lease 2.9 million acres of ocean to natural gas and oil companies. The pie-shaped area begins 50 miles off Virginia's coast, straight out from Virginia Beach on the south and across from Virginia's boundary on the Delmarva peninsula to the north.

Back in Virginia, environmentalists echo their Southwestern counterparts, calling the offshore push a last-ditch energy grab.

"We've got an administration on its way out, trying to make its last deal for the oil and gas industry," said Glenn Besa, director of Virginia's Sierra Club chapter

But in the Bush camp, Luthi is trying to turn the change in power to his advantage, "That's one reason we started , was to give the new administration an option." he said.

down to maybe $126 per barrel.

What's that you say? The Dickens!