OUTER BANKS, N.C. — The potential for offshore drilling of oil and gas is now in the cards along both the east and west coast of the United States. The Department of the Interior is currently in the public comment period for the "Eleventh National Outer Continental Shelf Oil and Gas Leasing Program." It's been met with mixed reviews in the Outer Banks.
“The North Labyrinth current that runs right across the Outer Banks, it'll pull all that to our beaches. And so we could have that potential of losing our beaches for tourism and also for our fishing industry as well," said Steve House, vice-chairman of the Dare County Board of Commissioners, while explaining what he believes could happen if an oil spill from an offshore drilling rig hit the Outer Banks.
He continued, “The tourism is $2.2 billion industry in Dare County, and of course, with our commercial fishing, it's $65 million. So, if you take those two factors away, we're just an island on the coast."
The U.S. Department of the Interior announced its 11th National Outer Continental Shelf Oil and Gas Leasing Program in April, which would create a new schedule and potentially open up more offshore drilling opportunities along both U.S. coasts.
It's a program that Interior Secretary Doug Burgum says, in part, “marks a decisive step toward securing American energy dominance."
On Wednesday, News 3 went to discuss the potential of offshore drilling with fishermen in Wanchese. Some, like Britton Shackelford, say they wouldn’t mind it compared to the other energy alternatives.
“We do live in an environmentally-sensitive area, but everywhere is an environmentally-sensitive area. And to me, I think that an offshore well or a number of wells is going to be less obtrusive to the environment than 100 windmills," said Shackelford.
Shackelford also feels from conversations he's had, when it comes to the environment, the process of offshore drilling has advanced.
“The number of environmental aspects that they have to take into consideration when they're putting them down, building them, transporting them, transporting the petroleum, all of those particular things, it's incredibly advanced compared to what it was even 15 years ago," said Shackelford.
The public comment period is open until June 16, which you can find here. On Monday, the Dare County Board of Commissioners are expected to pass a resolution opposing the proposed plans.
“Hopefully what we do with that, with what we're going to put out, is that it'll raise awareness for our federal representatives to say, hey, our locals don't want this, and what can we do to prevent it going forward?" said House.
