News release, “Northrop Grumman Selects Virginia for New Corporate Office“:

LOS ANGELES – April 26, 2010 – Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE:NOC), announced that it will locate its new corporate office in Virginia, concluding a search that also included the state of Maryland and the District of Columbia.

“We are pleased to have identified Virginia as the home for our new corporate office. Virginia, Maryland and the District put forward compelling, competitive offers. Our final decision was driven largely by facility considerations, proximity to our customers, and overall economics,” said Wes Bush, chief executive officer and president. “We are very appreciative for the tremendous assistance we received from Governor O’Malley and the State of Maryland, Mayor Fenty and the District of Columbia, and Governor McDonnell and the Commonwealth of Virginia as well many local counties and municipalities.”

Northrop Grumman is currently conducting negotiations with several building owners in the Falls Church/Arlington area, with a specific building selection to be announced soon. The company expects to initiate operations in the new corporate office in summer of 2011 with approximately 300 people.

At the risk of being redundant, welcome to the area! As the next line of the news release notes, “Northrop Grumman currently employs approximately 40,000 people in Maryland, Virginia and Washington, D.C. and is the largest industrial employer in both states.”

News coverage tended to highlight Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell’s role in the recruitment of the corporate headquarters, as well as the incentive packages offered by the states. Congratulations to the governor, too, but the comparatively friendly business and investment environments in Virginia versus Maryland or the District probably played a more important role. In CNBC’s “Top States for Business 2009,” Virginia ranked No. 1. Maryland ranked 27.

• Washington Post, Northrop Grumman picks Virginia for corporate headquarters“
• Washington Examiner, “Va. ponies up millions to add Northrop”“
• News Channel 8, Virginia Woos Northrop Grumman, Winning Hard-fought Battle”

Big week for Northrop Grumman. Today the company announced first quarter earnings, which increased to $462 million, or $1.51 per diluted share, from $366 million, or $1.10 per diluted share, in the first quarter of 2009.

And then there’s this news, good for the national defense, “Northrop Grumman Delivers Mine Detection Pods Ahead of Schedule.” Photo here.

The National Association of Manufacturers’ statement from Executive Vice President Jay Timmons, “Manufacturers Urge Continued Expansion of Offshore Development.”

American Petroleum Institute, a statement from President Jack Gerard:

The announcement by President Obama and Secretary Salazar is a positive development. We look forward to reviewing the details of the proposal, and we stand ready to work with them to make this a reality. We appreciate the administration’s recognition of the importance of developing our nation’s oil and natural gas resources to create jobs, generate revenues and fuel our nation’s economy.

Exploring for and developing our nation’s offshore resources could help generate more than a trillion dollars in revenues and create thousands of jobs to add to the already 9.2 million jobs supported by today’s oil and natural gas industry.

As we move forward, we hope that consideration can be given to other resource-rich regions, such as the Destin Dome area of the Eastern Gulf and areas off the Pacific Coast and Alaska. We also need to ensure that the permitting processes are handled in an expeditious way. The oil and natural gas industry has a proven track record of safe oil and natural gas development and the majority of the American people recognize this by supporting greater offshore development for the benefit of their communities, their states and their nation.

Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell, “White House Decision Ensures Virginia will be First State on Eastern Seaboard to Produce Natural Gas and Oil Offshore“:

I thank the President and Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar for ensuring Virginia will be the first state on the East Coast to explore for and produce energy offshore. The President’s decision to allow energy exploration off Virginia’s coast will mean thousands of new jobs, hundreds of millions in new state revenue and tens of billions of dollars in economic impact for the Commonwealth. It will also help our nation take a further step towards energy independence. Environmentally-safe offshore energy exploration and production is good for Virginia workers, the Virginia economy and national security. Just this session the General Assembly passed, with bipartisan support, legislation I requested to authorize offshore oil and gas exploration and drilling and to allocate 80% of revenues to transportation and 20% to green energy research and development. (continue reading…)

Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli was the first attorney general out of the box this morning to announce litigation against the health care bill President Obama plans to sign into law. Cuccinelli’s argument is a straightforward one challenging the constitutionality of an individual mandate. Excerpt from Cuchinelli’s statement:

With this law, the federal government will force citizens to buy health insurance, claiming it has the authority to do so because of its power to regulate interstate commerce. We contend that if a person decides not to buy health insurance, that person – by definition – is not engaging in commerce, and therefore, is not subject to a federal mandate.

Virginia is in a unique situation that allows it the standing to file such a suit since Virginia is the only state so far to pass a law protecting its citizens from a government-imposed mandate to buy health insurance. The health care reform bill, with its insurance mandate, creates a conflict of laws between the federal government and Virginia. Normally, such conflicts are decided in favor of the federal government, but because we believe the federal law is unconstitutional, Virginia’s law should prevail.

Just being alive is not interstate commerce. If it were, there would be no limit to the U.S. Constitution’s commerce clause and to Congress’s authority to regulate everything we do. There has never been a point in our history where the federal government has been given the authority to require citizens to buy goods or services.

Washington Post, March 11, “Va. assembly approves bill to bar health-insurance mandate”
Heritage Foundation, Dec. 9, 2009, “The Individual Mandate in Obamacare is Unconstitutional“

Prominent play on the front of the Metro section in today’s Washington Post, “Virginia leaders express interest in offshore drilling“:

RICHMOND — Never has the political climate in Virginia so favored offshore drilling.

Most Virginia leaders — regardless of their political party — have expressed interest in joining Alaska, Texas, Louisiana and other states in setting up offshore platforms to drill for oil and natural gas.

Gov. Robert F. McDonnell and fellow elected Republicans strongly back the proposal, as do most members of the state’s congressional delegation, including both U.S. senators, who are Democrats.

The Tallahassee Democrat reports, “Drilling report’s conclusions disappoint both sides:

With its chief proponent saying he is in no hurry, the push to open Florida waters to oil and gas drilling inched past another milestone Monday when a House panel was briefed on a report by a Florida think tank.

House Speaker-designate Dean Cannon, R-Winter Park, said he was pleased with the report, which was prepared by the Collins Center and the Century Commission for a Sustainable Florida.

“It was fascinating how much of it jibed with what we’ve been hearing in testimony from the experts,” Cannon said.

Cannon: “I’m pleased with the report.” Newspaper: “Both sides disappointed.”

The report concludes that Gulf of Mexico oil production would produce $80 million to $190 million annually in revenue to the state, creating 2,000 to 5,000 jobs.

A recent article in Newsweek provides the big picture, or deep picture, as the case may be. From “Journey to the Center of the Earth“:

From the window of a helicopter 1,500 feet above the Gulf of Mexico, oil platforms look like Tinkertoys in a swimming pool. Dozens dot the horizon stretching south from New Orleans and continuing out as the water deepens and turns a darker blue. Then, about 50 miles offshore, the platforms stop, and for the next hundred miles there’s nothing. This is the deepwater Gulf of Mexico, where the ocean floor is 8,000 feet down and covered in a heavy layer of muck. Below that is an ancient salt bed several miles thick, and hidden under that, trapped tens of thousands of feet down, there’s oil—billions and billions of barrels of it. And it’s all in U.S. waters.

The article uses Chevron’s Tahiti platform (pictured above) as the base of reporting. Good story, tremendous prospects.

If only …

From The Washington Examiner, “The Obama Moratorium: No offshore drilling while he’s in office”

The Obama administration’s six-month delay in approving new offshore drilling leases in federal waters will become a new three-year ban, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar quietly told reporters last Friday. Which means that no new oil and gas leases will be approved during President Obama’s term even though two –thirds of the American public supports such activity, according to a December 2009 Rasmussen poll.

Sixty percent also believe that gas and oil prices will drop if the government allows offshore drilling, opening up an estimate 14 billion barrels of oil and 55 trillion cubic feet of natural gas

From the governor’s office, a news release, “Governor McDonnell Signs Legislation Positioning Virginia to Become the “Energy Capital of the East Coast”

RICHMOND – Governor Bob McDonnell was joined by a bipartisan group of delegates and senators this afternoon as he signed legislation that will allocate 80% of future offshore royalties and revenues to transportation and the remaining 20% to the Virginia Coastal Energy Research Consortium, which researches and develops renewable energy solutions.  HB 756, a key piece of the Governor’s ‘Jobs and Opportunities’ Agenda, will allocate 80% of future offshore royalties and revenues to transportation (70% to Transportation Trust Fund and 10% to local transportation projects) and the remaining 20% to the Virginia Coastal Energy Research Consortium, which researches and develops renewable energy solutions.  Equally important, HB 787 provides a clear statement of the Commonwealth in support of oil and natural gas exploration, development, and production 50 miles or more off Virginia’s coast.  The Governor and members of his administration have been in steady communication with United States Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar expressing strong support for keeping the offshore lease sale on schedule for 2011.  These pieces of legislation underscore those efforts and provide valuable evidence of Virginia’s readiness to lead on offshore exploration and drilling.

While signing the legislation, Governor McDonnell remarked, “These key pieces of legislation are necessary to help Virginia become the ‘Energy Capital of the East Coast.’  Virginians understand that this common–sense policy will lead to millions of dollars in revenue as well as thousands of new jobs.  Revenue gained from offshore exploration will go directly to two key areas–transportation and energy research and development.  Millions of dollars will go towards improving our transportation system that will ensure the free flow of commerce and attract further business investments in the Commonwealth.  By investing 20% in renewable energy research and production we will ensure that energy sources of the future, such as wind and biofuels, are made more commercially practicable.”

• HB756: http://leg1.state.va.us/cgi–bin/legp504.exe?ses=101&typ=bil&val=HB756
• HB787: http://leg1.state.va.us/cgi–bin/legp504.exe?ses=101&typ=bil&val=HB787

News coverage…

AP, “Va. gov McDonnell signs offshore energy bills”

WTVR, “McDonnell signs offshore drilling bills”

Virginia’s new Gov. Bob McDonnell delivered his State of the Commonwealth address Jan. 18, fleshing out the policy programs he mentioned in his earlier inaugural address. While he did not use the word “manufacturing” — the term we’ve been searching for in governors’ addresses this month — the Republican governor did talk about “industry,” e.g., the bio-tech industry, an industrial mega-site, the wine industry, and, with the most detail, the energy industry.

McDonnell’s prescription for economic growth via energy is an all-of-the-above approach, including offshore oil and gas development, nuclear power, coal and bio-fuels. The Virginia governor is giving the Republican response to President Obama’s State of the Union address Wednesday, but his vision of energy development is non-partisan and one that the President would profitably embrace in pursuit of jobs, growth and tax revenues.

From McDonnell’s prepared remarks:

I am committed to utilizing all of our vast, God-given natural resources to make Virginia the “Energy Capital of the East Coast.” We must do our part to promote American energy independence.

We have the opportunity to be the first state on the Eastern Seaboard to sell the leasing rights to explore and drill offshore for oil and natural gas in 2011. The federal moratoria have been lifted. The state that is first will reap an economic bonanza. We can lead or be left out. Four years ago you had the foresight to pass legislation giving us a critical advantage. We cannot now let Washington bureaucracy undermine the clear desires of the people of Virginia.

I have written to Secretary of Interior Ken Salazar, and have let our congressional delegation know that this is a priority for our Commonwealth, consistent with President Obama’s commitment to make our nation more energy secure. Several studies show that environmentally-safe offshore exploration and production will create thousands of jobs, put hundreds of millions into our depleted state coffers, and spur billions in capital investment in the Old Dominion. There are many unemployed Virginians who are ready to work in the oil and gas production industry. (continue reading…)

Bob McDonnell was sworn in Saturday as Governor of Virginia, and thus his first speech in office was an Inaugural Address, a tone-setting speech more philosophical than programmatic. (Text.) Still, we’ll include it among state of the state addresses we’ve been reviewing, reporting on whether governors mention “manufacturing,” “industry” or variants thereof.

McDonnell, a Republican, did indeed cite “industries” when stating his belief that developing domestic energy will lead to economic growth and jobs for Virginia.

Governor-elect Bob McDonnell of Virginia has already taken a strong stance in support of the state’s workers, consumers and manufacturers by pushing the Department of Interior to expedite development of natural gas and oil resources on the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS). Writing that “Virginia is eager to get started,” McDonnell on Dec. 23 sent a letter to Secretary of Interior Ken Salazar asking that the state remain on the current five-year OCS leasing plan and that federal administrative process move forward immediately with Lease Sale 220, an area more than 50 miles off the coast of Virginia estimated to contain 130 million barrels of oil and 1.14 trillion cubic feet of natural gas.

From the governor-elect’s letter:

Any effort to remove or delay Virginia’s participation in the lease sale would significantly hamper our efforts to create jobs, eliminate much-needed new revenue, and undermine support for President Obama’s stated commitment to make the United States more energy secure.

The opportunity to explore and develop oil and natural gas resources off the coast of Virginia, miles out of sight from our beaches in an environmentally sound manner, is timely for both our nation and our Commonwealth. Like every other state, Virginia is struggling with the high unemployment that accompanies the current tough economic environment. Some parts of our state have an unemployment rate as high as 19 percent. Additionally, America needs secure and diverse energy sources that do not leave us dependent on foreign governments adverse to our national interests.

Governor-elect McDonnell makes his Administration’s goals — upon which he specifically, prominently campaigned  – quite clear to Secretary Interior and the public.

Offshore energy exploration and production will be a priority in my administration. I would like to work with you and the President to make Virginia an international leader in offshore energy exploration and production on the Atlantic coast. It is important for both our Commonwealth and our country. We also intend to aggressively pursue offshore renewable energy sources such as wind farms, and will be asking for your assistance at that appropriate time.

That’s welcome leadership on behalf of smart energy policy and economic growth.

See also news coverage:

• Wall Street Journal blog, “Drill, Baby, Drill: Does Virginia’s Gov-Elect’s Call For Offshore Drilling Add Up?“
• Washington Business Journal, “Bob McDonnell urges offshore drilling for Virginia“
• Richmond Times Dispatch, “Hasten offshore lease sale, McDonnell urges White House“

The next governor of Virginia, Bob McDonnell, often criticized the undemocratic Employee Free Choice Act during his campaign against Creigh Deeds, who tried to avoid the issue. (See also Amanda Carpenter, Washington Times, “EFCA’s role in McDonnell’s win.”

New Jersey Governor Jon Corzine’s core support came from organized labor, pushing his candidacy at the same time they made the Employee Free Choice Act their rallying cry. See The Star-Ledger story, “Unions organize to help an ally: Jon Corzine.” Former federal prosecutor Chris Christie defeated Corzine on Tuesday, 49-45 percent.

In Pennsylvania, organized labor’s candidate for the state Supreme Court, Jack Panella, lost to Joan Orie Melvin. Judging by Panella’s website, he was counting on the unions to bring home the vote. Nope.

True, labor’s favored candidate won in New York’s 23rd Congressional District, but Bill Owens was the AFL-CIO’s second choice after Dede Scozzafava dropped out.

Labor’s failures weaken its political power in Congress, if only at the margins, making it even more difficult to pass the Employee Free Choice Act this year. The unions will therefore continue their power plays in other venues, such as the National Mediation Board and the National Labor Relations Board. Expect the SEIU’s Andy Stern to make even more visits to the White House to coordinate strategy.

UPDATE (9:45 a.m.): Mickey Kaus, from his “Election 2009: Some Winners, Losers,”:

Losers: Dems who were planning to argue that a Corzine victory, when contrasted with Deeds’ loss, shows the need to stick with “core Democratic values” (i.e. unions) …

Loser: Card check. Virginia Republican McDonnell didn’t fudge on labor’s “card check” bill. He bashed it. He won. Virginia is hardly a union state, but neither are the states with Senators who are swing votes on “card check”. …