Seismic testing in the Atlantic Ocean could begin in a year and a half, and plans already are under way about whether coastal states will need more roads, refineries and other infrastructure for offshore oil and gas production, North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory, chair of the Outer Continental Shelf Governors Coalition, said on Friday.
The coalition met Friday during the National Governors Association meeting in Washington. Their agenda included discussion of how to get a regional revenue-sharing bill through Congress, McCrory said. The legislation would determine how money from fossil fuels from U.S. waters would be divided between the federal government and the states.
The federal government requires a 50-mile buffer zone between the drilling and the coast. North Carolina might push to move that limit five to 10 miles closer to land, if that’s where oil or gas are found, McCrory said after the meeting.
The Outer Continental Shelf Governors Coalition wants the federal government to expand oil and gas production and offshore wind in coastal waters. Along with McCrory, the members of the coalition are the governors of Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina, Maine and Virginia. The governors were in Washington for a meeting of the National Governors Association.
McCrory said he was satisfied that seismic testing could be done safely. Environmentalists and scientists have raised concerns about the impact of the loud underwater noise on whales and other ocean wildlife.
He said it was too early to know where refineries might be built in North Carolina, or even if they’d be needed.
The Republican governor also said that oil rigs would be out of sight from the coast, and that tourism would benefit because revenues from the production could be used for beach nourishment and dredging.
The Interior Department announced in January that it would open the waters off North Carolina, Virginia, South Carolina and Georgia to offshore drilling. The proposed lease sale covers 2017 to 2022.
McCrory said that oil and gas development would create jobs and generate revenue. Opponents say the oil spills would harm the environment and the economic activities it supports _ tourism, coastal real estate and fishing.
U.S. Rep. Walter Jones, a Republican whose district includes the north and central parts of the North Carolina coast, said that the federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management agreed to hold an additional public meeting about the federal government’s proposed lease sale. One meeting has been held in Wilmington. Another will be held to make it more convenient for people in the northern part of the coast to attend, Jones’ office said in a statement Thursday. The meeting is expected in mid-March, but a time and place haven’t been set.
“It is vitally important for the federal government to receive the input of citizens who stand to be most impacted by this proposal,” Jones said in the statement.
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