Saving Seafood

North Carolina submits formal comments in opposition to offshore drilling

August 21, 2017 — Gov. Roy Cooper and the Department of Environmental Quality submitted formal comments yesterday to the U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management to convey North Carolina’s opposition to oil and gas leasing for offshore drilling on North Carolina’s coast.

“Because offshore drilling threatens North Carolina’s critical coastal industries and unique coastal environment with limited benefits for our citizens, it is a bad deal for North Carolina,” Cooper wrote in the letter. “Accordingly, I ask that you respect the wishes of our state and maintain in the new OCS Leasing Plan the current prohibition of oil and gas drilling off North Carolina’s coast.”

Coastal tourism generates $3 billion annually in North Carolina and supports more than 30,000 jobs in the eastern part of the state. Commercial fishing also brings in hundreds of millions of dollars to the state every year.

Read the full story at Island Free Press

Have the Tides Turned Against Offshore Drilling?

Low oil prices and local resistance have stalled plans to drill off the southeastern coast, for now.

August 11, 2017 — Last month, in one of the North Carolina’s most popular beach towns, North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper announced his opposition to offshore drilling.

“It’s clear that opening North Carolina’s coast to oil and gas exploration and drilling would bring unacceptable risks to our economy, our environment and our coastal communities – and for little potential gain,” Cooper said from Atlantic Beach, North Carolina. “As governor, I’m here to speak out and take action against it. I can sum it up in four words: not off our coast.”

When oil drilling off the southeast coast was proposed by President Barack Obama in 2015, Cooper’s press conference may have stood apart from the bipartisan consensus that supported the idea.

But now, two years later, the Democratic governor’s stance is less noteworthy. More than 125 municipalities along the coast have formally opposed drilling or seismic testing, and just one coastal governor in the Southeast still supports it.

What changed? Not local opinion, says Sierra Weaver, an attorney at the Southern Environmental Law Center.

“The local communities have always been against offshore drilling, it’s really a matter of them getting educated about what’s at stake,” Weaver says. “What has shifted is interest at the state level or the political level.”

Read the full story at U.S. News & World Report

Offshore drilling backers, opponents ready for North Carolina battle

August 8, 2017 — RALEIGH, N.C. — Federal regulators again want to hear what North Carolinians think about allowing oil and gas drilling off the state’s coast.

Last year, former President Barack Obama’s administration adopted a five-year energy plan that excluded drilling off the East Coast. But President Donald Trump has said he wants to see more offshore energy development, so his administration has tossed aside the 2016 plan and is starting over.

As part of that process, a public hearing was held Monday night in Wilmington, and others are set for Morehead City on Wednesday and Manteo on Thursday.

Gov. Roy Cooper said last month that he’s opposed to opening the coast to offshore exploration and drilling, saying he doesn’t think the risk to the state’s coastal tourism and commercial fishing industries of a major oil spill are worth the limited revenue North Carolina would receive from the move.

Read the full story at WRAL

NORTH CAROLINA: Senate passes Marine Aquaculture Development Act

June 29, 2017 — Amended changes to a marine aquaculture bill were unanimously approved in the Senate on Wednesday, meaning that a growing ocean-based business may soon have a bigger impact on the North Carolina coast.

Senate Bill 410, the Marine Aquaculture Development Act, was sponsored by Sen. Bill Cook (R-District 1), Sen. Norman W. Sanderson (R-District 2) and Sen. Jerry W. Tillman (R-District 29). The bill will next be sent to Gov. Roy Cooper.

Marine aquaculture is one of the fastest growing food production methods in the world, and SB 410 is designed to attract global seafood companies to the state, according to a Thursday afternoon news release.

In October 2015, Wilmington hosted the annual BioMarine International Business Convention. It was the first time the convention was held in the United States.

Approximately 300 business executives, researchers, entrepreneurs, and economic development officials from more than 16 countries attended the event.

“With a large abundant natural water resource along our state’s coastline, North Carolina is a prime location for deepwater aquaculture facilities,” Cook said. “Aquaculture is, indeed, among one of the fastest growing segments of food production worldwide, and with this bill, North Carolina will be appropriately positioned to join the market.”

Nearly one-half of all fish consumed globally are harvested from aquaculture facilities, according to the release, and by 2030 over 145.5 million metric tons of aquatic food will be needed to meet global demand.

Read the full story at WECT