Winston-Salem Journal Editorial

The Interior Department has issued a detailed proposal for oil and gas drilling off both the Pacific and Atlantic coasts – including the fragile, already-threatened North Carolina coast. President Obama should scrap the whole plan and concentrate on making the country more energy independent, a theme he stressed again Monday. State leaders should let him know just how bad drilling would be for North Carolina.

There’s been talk for years about drilling off the North Carolina coast. Most of the state’s top leaders have resisted such proposals, fearing that drilling could hurt the tourism this state increasingly depends upon.

But when gas prices shot up to record highs last year, some of our elected leaders, like their counterparts nationwide, relaxed their resistance.

The Interior Department issued its proposal in the last days of the Bush administration, which had pushed for more drilling off America’s coasts. The draft plan would allow drilling from New England to Florida and off the California coast, The Associated Press reported last week. These areas were recently declared off limits by Congress.

The N.C. legislature announced last week the formation of a committee to study the effects of drilling off our coast. We can’t imagine a scenario in which the economic benefits of such a plan could outweigh the damage to the environment and scenery – and, consequently, tourism. Overdevelopment has already done enough damage.

Drilling rigs would require nearby refineries and storage facilities, and create lots of traffic between the rigs and refineries. The rigs would threaten the environment, especially if one was knocked over in a hurricane.

With our Outer Banks jutting right out into the path of so many storms, that danger would be very real.
Finally, it’s estimated that more drilling off American shores wouldn’t produce enough oil to fuel our cars for any significant length of time. The time, effort and money for more drilling would be much better spent developing mass-transportation systems, alternative-energy programs and new fuels for cars. That strategy could finally break our addiction to oil, whether foreign or domestic.

By all indications, the Obama administration will be more prudent about the use of precious natural resources than the Bush administration. Ken Salazar, the new Interior secretary, indicated to The Associated Press last week that he likely will be receptive to scaling back his department’s proposal for more oil drilling.
Our elected leaders should let Salazar and the president know that oil drilling off North Carolina is a bad idea.