Many local beach town leaders are left with more questions than answers following a recent announcement that offshore oil and gas operations could soon set up shop in the federal waters near North Carolina.
Chunks of land 50 miles off the mid-Atlantic coast could be leased to oil and gas companies as soon as 2021 under a draft leasing program released by the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management in January. Carolina Beach Mayor Dan Wilcox said he is worried about how offshore drilling might affect the coastal economy and lifestyle.
“We’re concerned about our marine life. We’re concerned about our coast. We’re concerned about our tourism industry. We’re concerned about our recreational and commercial fishing,” Wilcox said. “To us, it’s a big concern about our financial resources.”
Wilcox, who said he is not “100 percent opposed to offshore drilling,” needs to know how those resources will be protected before he can feel comfortable with offshore oil and gas operations, especially in the event of an oil spill.
“I think new technology has emerged and we’ve learned from previous circumstances. We have an open mind about taking a look at new opportunities and seeing if we can reach both goals. If you can have a safe operation and you can still retrieve the resources you’re looking for, if you can protect the coastline and protect the waters and still accomplish the other goal, I think that’s fine. But I’m not willing to do a trade,” Wilcox said.
Wrightsville Beach Mayor Bill Blair said, “Even the mildest conservationist would have some concerns” given the consequences of the 2010 Deepwater Horizon spill, when millions of barrels of oil poured into the ocean for months after a Gulf rig exploded.
“I don’t know that I’m opposed to it, but I definitely have concerns about how, when, all the usual things,” Blair said.
Carolina Beach Councilman Steve Shuttleworth said he is also cautious to embrace offshore drilling based on what happened in the Gulf.
“Anytime you look at the pictures of what happened in the Gulf, you get nervous. The other side of the argument is, there are thousands of rigs down there and one of them had an accident. Some people say it’s been cleaned, other people say it hasn’t. Most of those arguments end up with scientists, and if you bring three scientists, you get three different opinions. That’s the conflict I have,” Shuttleworth said.
Offshore drilling will bring economic security locally and nationally, said Kure Beach Mayor Dean Lambeth, if companies determine it a sound investment.
“It’ll be a boom for Wilmington, North Carolina. I feel sure. But I don’t know if they’ll ever drill out there,” said Lambeth, who called for seismic testing and exploratory wells to know whether local reserves would support offshore oil and gas operations.
Drilling would be especially beneficial to coastal communities if a revenue sharing system similar to one in the Gulf, where states receive 37.5 percent of royalties, were implemented in the mid-Atlantic, Lambeth said.
“They spend so much money. They spend billions of dollars just to do the exploration and test wells. If we got part of that money, even $100 million, to do our beaches, that would be all we’d ever need,” Lambeth said.
Gov. Pat McCrory, chairman of the pro-drilling Outer Continental Shelf Governors Coalition, said during an Oct. 22, 2014, appearance in Wilmington he would not allow offshore drilling in North Carolina until federal law enables companies to share a portion of profits with the state, which he pledged to return to coastal communities to offset the cost of beach renourishment and inlet dredging.
Beach communities can pursue other revenue sources to shoulder the cost of coastal management projects, said Wrightsville Beach Alderwoman Lisa Weeks, but she is open to including offshore royalties to the list of options.
“The reality is, we are going out to look for alternative resources for beach renourishment in the future. I would be reluctant to say that’s a solution for it, if it’s going to cause unintended consequences or other problems, but it is something on the table to consider,” Weeks said.
Wilcox said he appreciates the offer of a reward for the communities assuming the biggest risk, but he needs more specifics about how revenue will be shared.
“I heard that statement, that comment, but I don’t know what that means. I don’t know how it related to our beaches, our coastal communities,” Wilcox said.
A royalty-sharing program is not the only part of the process prompting questions and requests for more information from Wilcox. While the decision is made on the federal level, Wilcox said he wished the federal government would have included the local governments that will be most impacted by the decision while assembling the draft program.
“We heard about it from the press. No one has kept us in the loop on anything else: future meetings, public comment opportunities, things of that nature. It’s fairly typical, but it would have been nice for someone to reach out to the communities that are going to be directly affected, to make sure we get accurate information,” Wilcox said.
The program released in January is a draft and subject to revision based on public input, said Wrightsville Beach Mayor Pro Tem Darryl Mills, so coastal leaders and residents still have a chance to shape the final product.
“A lot of the pushback, while I understand where they’re coming from, might be a touch premature at this point. I’m all for getting the facts and trying to plot a logical, correct course,” Mills said.
The release of the first draft of the leasing program triggered a 60-day public comment period, during which 20 public meetings will take place in areas included in the program. The Blockade Runner Beach Resort will host North Carolina’s only public meeting about the proposed program from 3-7 p.m., Tuesday, Feb. 17, where people will be able to talk one-on-one with BOEM staff and submit feedback.
Coverage of local perspectives on coastal energy initiatives will continue in the Feb. 12 issue of Lumina News.
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