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Tuesday, March 19, 2024

Forum tries to paint a more complete picture of the offshore drilling issue

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As executive director of the Outer Banks Visitors Bureau, Lee Nettles sees offshore drilling as “a threat disguised as an opportunity.” One in three people in Dare County, which includes Cape Hatteras, is employed in a tourism-related industry, and an oil spill could devastate the local economy, he said.

Tourism in North Carolina is a $20 billion per year industry, while commercial and recreational fishing generate nearly $2.8 billion per year.

But the Obama administration and North Carolina lawmakers see economic benefits from extracting offshore oil and natural gas resources.

“The Outer Continental Shelf belongs to the nation and should be open for exploration,” said Renee Orr, chief of the strategic resources office of the federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, which oversees offshore leases and drilling.

Nettles’ viewpoint aligned with the opinion of most of the 300 people attending a forum on offshore drilling in New Bern, N.C., Friday, July 31, sponsored by the N.C. Coastal Federation. But while the federation opposes offshore drilling, the goal Friday was to bring together a variety of experts to provide a more complete picture of the issue and what is to gain, or lose.

That the Atlantic Ocean holds oil and gas reserves is not in dispute. How much? Almost certainly at least 1.32 billion barrels and possibly as much as 9 billion barrels, most of it off Cape Hatteras, said Laura Taylor, professor of agricultural and resource economics at N.C. State University. Natural gas reserves are estimated to be 37.51 trillion cubic feet of natural gas.

If that materializes, North Carolina could net $855 million in 2035, she said.

But much of that oil is within the 50-mile buffer established by BOEM. And overall, offshore drilling would have little impact on gas prices or energy-independence goals because the reserves would supply only a small fraction of total daily U.S. consumption, Taylor said.

Another caveat: The federal government doesn’t have to share the revenues, and North Carolina law currently does not provide for coastal counties to get a share of the profits, said Greg “Rudi” Rudolph, shore protection manager for Carteret County.

Regardless of any perceived economic benefits, coastal advocates and environmentalists worry the price could be too high. Although oil and gas production is at least 10 to 15 years off, several companies have applied to use seismic testing — aiming powerful sound waves at the ocean floor — to map potential deposits. But drilling is required to find out for sure what reserves lie underneath, Orr said.

Several scientists addressed the potential testing impact on marine life. Doug Nowaeck, an associate professor with Duke University’s marine science program, said there is a “fundamental mismatch” between BOEM analysis and the potential impact on marine animals.

Low-frequency sounds such as those emitted by seismic guns travel very far underwater, but the federal study did not consider long-range effects, Nowaceck said. He also noted a new generation of seismic equipment may reduce the impact, but it is still in development stages.

And what if an oil spill occurred off the North Carolina coast? With the right conditions, oil would flow toward the coastline and the estuaries, said Len Pietrafesa, professor emeritus of marine earth and atmospheric science at N.C. State. He said those projections are based on actual data as well as sophisticated modeling, but he offered a real-life example.

“And that is why the North Carolina coast was invaded by the red tide in 1987,” Pietrafesa said. A red tide involves harmful algal blooms that can be toxic to fish and other marine life. The blooms were pushed toward the coast by atmospheric conditions, he said.

Along the coast, opinion is split on the benefits and risks of offshore drilling, states a recent poll commissioned by the Coastal Federation. But McCrory has led the push to extract oil and gas resources off the coast.

Friday, Donald van der Vaart, McCrory’s secretary for the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, sought to clarify his boss’ position.

“Gov. McCrory makes it clear our job is to provide four economic development and prosperity, but in doing so we have to protect the quality of life we all know and love,” van der Vaart said. When asked whether McCrory would go on record as opposing drilling if revenue sharing is not in the mix, van der Vaart said his boss has been clear that it would be “economically irresponsible” to proceed in such a case.

Likewise, he said McCrory would insist that local governments get some of the revenue “because they are on the front lines.”

Many unknowns remain. And among the biggest unanswered questions is whether North Carolina can reap the potential benefits of drilling without harming the environment or coastal industries.

Said Orr: “It’s ultimately the balancing decision that needs to be made.”

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