Symposium Seeks to Answer Questions About Drilling Off NC’s Coast

Gas prices may be falling here in the east, but the issue of offshore drilling isn’t going away any time soon.

Back in August, Carteret County commissioners passed a resolution encouraging state and federal leaders to support the exploration of oil and gas off our state’s outer continental shelf.

And as our Philip Jones shows us, community members there got a glimpse Wednesday morning of what the future might hold for our coast.

A video produced by the Shell Oil Company and shown at Wednesday’s Offshore Oil Exploration Symposium could be a preview of what could happen off our coast if offshore exploration and drilling ever gets the go-ahead in the Tar Heel State.

A lot of questions have to be answered before that happens, though, and that’s why some of Carteret County’s economic leaders put together the symposium.

“I wanted to be here because of the education process,” said NC District 13 Rep. Pat McElraft. “We in the Legislature have some big decisions here to make now that the moratorium has been lifted on offshore exploration.”

McElraft was one of the dozens of folks who sat through the five-hour symposium.

Government and environmental agencies took part in the discussion, as did a Shell spokesman. Much of their discourse centered on the safety of offshore exploration.

“It can happen safely and it can happen responsibly,” said Shell spokesman Fred Palmer, “and we just point to our track record not only in the Gulf of Mexico, but elsewhere.”

But Frank Tursi from the North Carolina Coastal Federation says the symposium didn’t tell the whole story.

“What was truly lacking and what was disappointing was a true discussion about potential environmental effects of drilling,” Tursi said.

He’s glad people are talking about the issue, but says he wants to make sure everyone—including legislators like McElraft—gets their questions answered by folks on every side of the issue.

Speakers from nearly every agency at the symposium say states outside the Gulf Coast need to step in to help deal with America’s energy crisis.

They say by the year 2030, the US will require 19 percent more energy than it did in 2006.