10-08-08: Drilling off N.C. still years away

(c) 2008 State Port Pilot

By Lisa Stites, Staff Writer

Though a federal ban on offshore drilling expired last week, it will still be years before rigs are seen off the North Carolina coast.

Expiration of the ban doesn’t mean open season for offshore drilling. Those rights are governed by the U.S. Department of Interior’s Minerals Management Service (MMS) through a lease program. The current ease program runs through 2012.

If offshore drilling becomes a reality, local leaders say they want to make sure it’s clean, it’s safe, and that North Carolina gets a share of the revenue.

Mike Lopazanski is a policy manager for the Division of Coastal Management, part of the N.C. Department of Environment and Natural Resources.

Lopazanski explained that it takes about two and a half years to get a five-year lease program in place, and then it would take at least another one to three years to acquire the more than 20 state and federal permits needed to drill.

That’s if the U.S. Congress doesn’t get involved in the timing. Congress could consider legislation to speed the lease process, or it could pass new laws to reinstate the ban.

Caswell Beach mayor Harry Simmons, president of the American Shore & Beach Preservation Association and executive director of the North Carolina Beach, Inlet and Waterway Association, said Caswell Beach doesn’t have a position on drilling at this point, though he said he expected town officials might discuss the issue soon.

He said members of the American Shore & Beach Preservation Association are divided on the topic so the group has no formal position. The group does want to make sure people making those decisions are at least using accurate information, he said.

But he said while the N.C. Beach, Inlet and Waterway Association wouldn’t push for offshore drilling, the group wants to make sure that, if it happens, revenue sharing is a part of the equation, with the money specifically set aside for coastal environmental needs, like dredging, beach nourishment, environmental infrastructure repairs.

“There’s got to be money in it for coastal resources,” Simmons said.
Simmons said he’d also want to see environmental impact studies and know that no rigs would be visible from shore.

And researching alternative forms of energy, while finding new sources of fossil fuels, should also be considered, he said.

Oak Island mayor Johnie Vereen echoed some of Simmons’ statements.

“If we can find an environmentally safe way to do this, I think we need to explore it,” Vereen said.

Revenue sharing should be a given in the process, he said.

“We’re guardians of the coast. We actually live here. Revenue sharing would go a long way toward building nice beaches,” Vereen said.

In a poll last month, Elon University surveyed 411 North Carolinians on their opinion about offshore drilling. While 69 percent of those surveyed support offshore drilling, most respondents (79 percent) believe only people in the United States should use the oil and gas that is produced. More than half of poll respondents thought offshore oil drilling would begin to affect gasoline prices within a decade.

The percentages of survey respondents who indicated when they believe prices would be affected by offshore oil drilling were as follows: immediately to less than one year, 14 percent; one to five years, 29 percent, six to ten years, 24 percent; and will never affect gas prices, six percent.

There are no sites off the North Carolina coast that are currently involved in a lease program, Lopazanski said. There is one off the coast of Virginia. But there is at least one spot about 38 miles east of Rodanthe, on the Outer Banks, that could contain a “significant amount” of natural gas, he said.

Mobil sought to tap into the area in 1989 and Chevron in 1997, he said. Based on seismic readings that are about 30 years old, Lopazanski said there could be as much as five trillion cubic feet of natural gas off the coast there, so the focus in North Carolina would likely be on natural gas and not oil.

The MMS office has already started the process for the next lease program, and Lopazanski said DENR submitted comments during the office’s request for information.

In a letter dated September 22, DENR secretary William Ross Jr. laid out the state’s concerns. North Carolina coastal communities are dependent on the fishing and tourism industries and would want to make sure those industries are not adversely affected by drilling. Ross echoed Gov. Mike Easley’s assertion that the state should be involved in the lease process.

Ross also said the state wants to ensure marine habitats and marine life populations are protected along the 320 miles of North Carolina’s shoreline. If offshore drilling is indeed allowed, DENR wants to make sure specific environmentally sensitive areas are avoided, that mitigation be required when those coastal resources can’t be avoided, and that abandoned sites are restored.

Lopazanski said the state would have many chances to be involved in the process. If drilling would take place within three miles of the shore, the state would be guaranteed revenue sharing at 27 percent. Getting a piece of the pie would be something the state would have to negotiate for drilling farther than three miles out, though the state would still be involved as MMS went through the consistency process, deciding if drilling was consistent with existing policies.