Virginia's U.S. Senate hopefuls presented their energy policies yesterday and criticized each others' chance of easing escalating energy costs.

In Richmond, former Gov. Mark R. Warner outlined his approach, which includes clamping down on speculators driving up the price of oil for short-term relief, using trade power to pressure OPEC nations to increase oil production and boosting the tax credit to people who buy certain fuel-efficient cars.

He said he supports lifting a federal moratorium to allow exploratory drilling off the Atlantic and Pacific coasts for natural gas and oil reserves but would leave the states to decide whether to pursue production.

"I believe that this issue of energy is one of the most pre-eminent issues that we will face in the next quarter-century," Warner said at the Science Museum of Virginia.

"To continue to have this nation dependent upon Middle East oil supplies puts us in economic jeopardy, puts us in security jeopardy. It's time to make that change."

Energy policy is also dominating conversation on the national level, as President Bush yesterday asked Congress to permit drilling offshore and in the Alaska National Wildlife Refuge.

Warner's Republican opponent, former Gov. Jim Gilmore, has aligned with Bush and Sen. John McCain, the presumed Republican presidential nominee, in calling for an end to the ban on offshore drilling. He emphasized his stance yesterday in a pointed statement sent after Warner's speech.

"Alternative sources of energy are important and we must push them aggressively, but they are not going to solve the problems of the average Virginia worker who has to drive 20 or 30 miles every day to work," Gilmore said.

"We need to drill here and drill now."

McCain supports lifting the federal ban to drill but allowing states the choice to permit exploration. Barack Obama, the presumed Democratic presidential nominee, opposes ending the ban.

Gilmore has said recent studies estimate that about 86 billion barrels of untapped oil lie in restricted areas, including Virginia's coastline.

The U.S. Minerals Management Service says 430 million to 2.96 billion barrels of oil could lie off the mid-Atlantic coast from the Delaware-New Jersey state line to the North Carolina-South Carolina line. It says that under that maximum estimate, the area could have enough oil to supply U.S. needs for 144 days and it could take years to benefit from that supply.

As governor, Warner vetoed legislation that supported lifting the federal moratorium on offshore drilling. Gov. Timothy M. Kaine supports exploratory drilling for natural gas off the coast of Virginia but not for oil because of the environmental risks, said Kaine's spokesman, Gordon Hickey.

Warner outlined his plan yesterday in front of about 60 people from the business community, the Greater Richmond Technology Council and the Venture Forum, among other groups.

He also called for increased research of alternative fuels, consideration of nuclear energy, clean-burning coal and hydrogen and working with U.S. automakers to raise fuel-efficiency standards to at least 40 miles per gallon.

For people like Will Farmer, of Farmer Machine & Manufacturing Co. in Ashland, relief can't come fast enough. He applauds Bush's desire to drill for oil and thinks if the federal ban had been lifted under President Bill Clinton's administration, the country already would see the benefit.

"I want it so bad," Farmer said about drilling. "Help us, we need it."
Contact Olympia Meola at (804) 649-6812 or omeola@timesdispatch.com.