Questions about benefits and risks assumed by coastal communities if offshore drilling operations set up in the federal waters off the North Carolina coast echoed throughout the halls of the Blockade Runner Beach Resort Feb. 17, when the federal government and a coalition of state environmental groups invited the public to learn more about a federal oil and gas leasing program that could bring offshore drilling operations to coastal North Carolina as soon as 2025.
Ethan Crouch, chair of the Cape Fear chapter of the Surfrider Foundation, asked a group of about 150 people rallied inside a meeting room if the benefits of offshore oil and gas exploration outweigh the harm a potential spill could inflict on the local shoreline.
“That is our No. 1 driving resource in this community,” Crouch said. “The small potential gains that could come from this risky practice of offshore drilling, I’ve just got to ask everybody: in your heart, is that, what we love so much, worth risking for the corporate profits of some company in Texas, or who knows where?”
Down the hall from the gathering of local business owners and elected officials who addressed their opposition to drilling, representatives from the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management explained details of the draft leasing program, released in January, that would allow oil and gas companies to acquire leases 50 miles off the coast of Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia during a lease sale tentatively planned for 2021. About 400 people circled the room from 3 to 7 p.m., discussing the proposal with ocean energy bureau staff and submitting public comments that could shape the federal government’s final decision.
The meeting was held, said Jill Lewandowski, chief of the ocean energy bureau’s environmental consultation branch, to gather information for an environmental review that accompanies the draft program. Because both the draft program and the environmental review are subject to public comment and revision before finalization, written comments on both documents were accepted.
Program-specific comments focus on which areas are included, Lewandowski said, compared to concerns about specific biological or physical resources that could be impacted, which will be factored into the environmental review.
A range of statewide environmental groups hopes to eliminate North Carolina from the program. The public information meeting marks the beginning of the process, said North Carolina Sierra Club Lead Organizer Zachary Keith, who said the show of opposition may send a strong message the ocean energy bureau will consider as the program is developed.
“This is the start of the process. It’s not a done deal, and we’re hoping to mobilize even more folks on the coast and across the state to make sure North Carolina gets excluded from the offshore drilling plan,” Keith said.
All areas of the outer continental shelf are up for consideration when the ocean energy bureau begins assembling a new leasing program every five years. With all options on the table, the bureau refines the program by considering economically recoverable resources in each area, the interest of each state’s elected leadership, and public input. Areas excluded from the first draft of the program cannot be added through public comment, Lewandowski noted, but included areas can be eliminated.
“Things could fall off,” Lewandowski said.
Like those opposed to drilling, Wilmington native and North Carolina Petroleum Council Executive Director David McGowan said he is personally invested in the future of North Carolina’s beaches. But he said he hopes people form opinions based on objective information.
“There are passionate arguments on both sides. There are legitimate, credible arguments on both sides. These are issues that are very easily distracted by fear and emotion, by strong feelings. That’s understandable, but you also need to cut through that fear and emotion and focus on the facts of the issue,” McGowan said.
Wrightsville Beach Mayor Bill Blair attended the meeting to find the facts, but he said maps, graphics and informational handouts did not offer enough evidence to draw a conclusion. Blair said he needs to know where oil and gas reserves are located and whether they are economically recoverable before he can weigh the pros and cons.
“I want to know if the reserves are real. These maps are all based on information that’s pretty dated, and given the technology today, I think there are better means by which we can determine that,” Blair said. “And if it’s economically viable, you have to inject there — at what cost does that come? — and get more into the environmental risk.”
Seismic surveys to determine what reserves lay beneath the Atlantic seabed could be approved by the ocean energy bureau by the end of 2015, Lewandowski said. Nine permits to conduct testing were submitted following the release of a regulatory framework that oversees geological and geophysical testing in the Atlantic last July.
Like Blair, Carolina Beach Councilman Steve Shuttleworth said he is still trying to gather all the facts, but even after the meeting, he wonders what benefits could offset the risk for coastal communities.
“I’m a gambler, but I’m not sure I’m willing to roll the dice on the environmental impact it could have on the coast if there’s an accident,” Shuttleworth said. He questioned if operations would bring jobs to the local area, but said a revenue-sharing program might provide a local benefit to counterbalance the risk.
“At least then, we’d have something to weigh, to balance the risk and the reward. Right now, it’s all risk and no reward. I can’t support that,” Shuttleworth said.
McGowan said he is confident companies could oversee offshore oil and gas operations without serious consequences to the coast.
“It can be done safely and responsibly, and it has been done safely and responsibly in other areas of the country for well over 60 years,” McGowan said, noting “some tragic circumstances in a couple places” but expressing confidence in the ocean energy bureau’s “strong regulatory regime.”
Safe, responsible offshore energy development could bring jobs and economic security to the coast, McGowan said, especially to smaller coastal towns without the established tourism economy enjoyed in the Wilmington area.
The ocean energy bureau will accept public comments through March 30. To learn more and submit comments, visit
www.boemoceaninfo.com
email [email protected]
