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Tuesday, March 19, 2024

Governor’s offer to share offshore drilling profits challenged

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Protestors again greeted Gov. Pat McCrory during an Oct. 22 stop in Wilmington.

McCrory was invited to the N.C. Coastal Resources Commission meeting at the Hilton Wilmington Riverside by Chairman Frank Gorham to learn about current coastal issues and share his plan for offshore drilling.

Members of the University of North Carolina Wilmington Environmental Concerns Organization were removed from the room for interrupting McCrory as he outlined his offshore energy priorities for the next two years, which include seismic testing to know what oil resources lay under the sea floor. After testing determines what resources are available, he said he plans to investigate options for extraction.

“My first goal is to find out what we have, and then find out the best way to get it in a safe, environmentally sound way, if there is a market for it,” McCrory said.

McCrory said he would not allow offshore drilling until federal law enabled companies to share profits with the state, which he promised to share with coastal communities to offset the cost of beach renourishment and inlet dredging.

UNCW ECO president Matthew Duffy said the group felt compelled to speak because the discussion was unbalanced, offering only the governor’s perspective instead of all perspectives. Duffy called McCrory’s pledge to reinvest offshore drilling profits into the coast a contradiction.

“Saying you’re going to drill offshore and then offer us renourishment with the revenues from that is like giving someone a third degree burn, and then offering a Band-Aid,” Duffy said.

The meeting was open to the public, but the public was not invited to speak or participate in the discussion. Duffy said the group wanted to air concerns while the governor was present, instead of during a short public comment period the following day.

“We need these issues to be heard. I feel like Gov. McCrory is deceiving a lot of people that have an interest in property. [Offshore drilling] is going to degrade property values and the economic value of our coast,” Duffy said.

McCrory called the interruptions a political stunt.

Gorham said he invited the governor to share his plan for offshore drilling because the public dialogue has centered on disadvantages.

Gorham was listed as the panelist discussing offshore drilling in the CRC agenda.

“There is no panelist. I’m just going to tell you that communities are concerned. The communities would like to have some upside,” Gorham said, before he opened the floor to McCrory.

Offshore drilling was the last topic on the agenda, following presentations from coastal leaders on the economic value of the coast, dwindling federal funding and increasing federal regulations, rising homeowners insurance premiums, and the possibility of expanding dredging windows.

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