In his opening remarks, Kellam said the entire coastline of Virginia is included in the 2nd District, which encompasses all of the Eastern Shore and Virginia Beach, and parts of Norfolk and Hampton. He said that while the geography itself is not diverse, the district does have many diverse interests, such as agriculture, housing and growth issues, land use questions, the military and port issues.Kellam spoke for several minutes about the possibility of bringing the Shore "up to speed with technology" with broadband Internet services. Also, he said it would be a positive step in helping to bring about positive growth on the Shore.
Another issue that Kellam voiced concern over was that of offshore oil drilling, which he said could negatively impact flight training out of Naval Air Station Oceana, as well as operations on Wallops.
According to a plan, Kellam said that about eight to nine days worth of oil could be removed from Virginia's costal perimeter to run the nation. With the drilling becoming a major possibility, Kellam felt that the U.S. Navy may abandon its presence inside the district.
"If the Navy really feels like they're not wanted in this area, they're going to go somewhere else, because places like San Diego or Seattle would love to have them," he said. "You pull a (aircraft) carrier out of here, a (submarine) out of there and you take all of those families and all of those economies out of there, and people are buying fewer sandwiches and other local products. These are elements of our economy that we have to pay attention to."