Trump moves to vastly expand offshore drilling off NC coast, elsewhere

The new five-year drilling plan also could open new areas of oil and gas exploration in areas off the East Coast from Georgia to Maine, where drilling has been blocked for decades. Many lawmakers in those states support offshore drilling, although the Democratic governors of North Carolina and Virginia oppose drilling off their state coasts.

Florida Gov. Rick Scott, a Republican, also opposes offshore drilling near his state, as do the three Democratic governors on the West Coast.

"Offshore drilling represents a critical threat to our coastal economy," North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper said in a statement. "Protecting North Carolina families and businesses is my top priority, and we will pursue every option to prevent oil drilling near North Carolina’s beaches, coastal communities and fishing waters."

At least 30 coastal communities have passed resolutions opposing drilling, joining hundreds of businesses and a bipartisan group of North Carolina’s congressional delegation.

"Offshore drilling and the seismic testing that would precede it pose environmental and economic risks to North Carolina’s coastal communities that we cannot afford," Michael Regan, secretary of the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality, said in a statement. "Protection of our beaches, sounds and marine life is vital to ensuring a robust coastal economy."

Meanwhile, Republican U.S. Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina said he favors expanded exploration for natural gas off the state's coast.

"One of the things that we have emphasized is that we're open to the possibility. What we are not open to are any sort of drilling permanent structures that are on the sight-horizon," Tillis said Friday, adding that any drilling agreements must provide revenue-sharing to coastal communities.

U.S. Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke announced the plan Thursday, saying that responsible development of offshore energy resources would boost jobs and economic security while providing billions of dollars to fund conservation along U.S. coastlines.

The five-year plan would open 90 percent of the nation's offshore reserves to development by private companies, Zinke said, with 47 leases proposed off the nation's coastlines between 2019 and 2024. Nineteen sales would be off the coast of Alaska, 12 in the Gulf of Mexico, nine in the Atlantic and seven in the Pacific, including six off California's coast.

"This is a draft program," Zinke said in a conference call with reporters. "Nothing is final yet, and our department is continuing to engage the American people to get to our final product."

Industry groups praised the announcement, which would be the most expansive offshore drilling proposal in decades. The proposal follows President Donald Trump's executive order in April encouraging more drilling rights in federal waters, part of the administration's strategy to help the U.S. achieve "energy dominance" in the global market.

"To kick off a national discussion, you need a national plan – something that has been lacking the past several years," said Randall Luthi, president of the National Ocean Industries Association.

Former President Barack Obama blocked Atlantic and Pacific drilling under a five-year plan finalized in 2016.

A coalition of more than 60 environmental groups denounced the plan, saying in a joint statement that it would impose "severe and unacceptable harm" to America's oceans, coastal economies, public health and marine life.

"These ocean waters are not President Trump's personal playground. They belong to all Americans and the public wants them preserved and protected, not sold off to multinational oil companies," read the statement, which was signed by leaders of the Sierra Club, Natural Resources Defense Council, League of Conservation Voters and other environmental groups.

"This extreme proposal is a shameful giveaway" to the oil and gas industry, which supported Trump in the election campaign, the groups said.

Erin Carey, coordinator of coastal programs for the North Carolina chapter of the Sierra Club, said the move disregards the objections and concerns voiced by thousands of North Carolinians.

"Our fragile marine ecosystems, endangered species and tourism and fishing economies would suffer tremendous damage in the event of a spill," Carey said in a statement. "Worse, the president has also acted to remove regulatory safety measures already in place to reduce the potential for deadly accidents and disastrous spills."

The proposal comes less than a week after the Trump administration proposed to rewrite or kill rules on offshore oil and gas drilling imposed after the deadly 2010 rig explosion and oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. The accident on BP's Deepwater Horizon rig killed 11 workers and triggered the biggest offshore oil spill in U.S. history.

The Trump administration called the rules an unnecessary burden on industry and said rolling them back will encourage more energy production. Environmentalists said Trump was raising the risk of more deadly oil spills.

The Obama administration imposed tougher rules in response to the BP spill. The rules targeted blowout preventers, massive valve-like devices designed to prevent spills from wells on the ocean floor. The preventer used by BP failed. The rules require more frequent inspections of those and other devices and dictate that experts onshore monitor drilling of highly complex wells in real time.

Nearly eight years after the BP spill, the Gulf of Mexico is still recovering, said Diane Hoskins, campaign director for the marine conservation group Oceana.

"Americans have seen the devastation that comes from offshore drilling," she said. "Will we allow Florida's white beaches or the popular and pristine Outer Banks to share a similar fate? What about the scenic Pacific coast or even remote Arctic waters?"

Zinke's announcement "ignores widespread and bipartisan opposition to offshore drilling," including from more than 150 municipalities nationwide and 1,200 local, state and federal officials, Hoskins said.

Scott, the Florida governor, said in a statement he has asked for an immediate meeting with Zinke to discuss his concerns. "My top priority is to ensure that Florida's natural resources are protected,' Scott said.

Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson said Florida cannot afford a spill like BP's. "Every Floridian remembers what happened to us when the beaches of Pensacola Beach were blackened with tar and oil, and we lost a whole season of our guests, our tourists who come to this extraordinary state," Nelson said, vowing to "do everything I can to defeat" Trump's plan.

California was the site of the first offshore drilling in the U.S. more than 120 years ago, but the region was tarnished by one of the worst spills in U.S. history in 1969, when more than 3 million gallons of oil poured into the ocean near Santa Barbara.

Thousands of sea birds were killed, along with dolphins, elephant seals and sea lions. Virtually all commercial fishing near Santa Barbara was halted, and tourism dropped dramatically.

Public outrage generated by the spill helped spark the modern environmental movement, and no federal leases have been granted off the California coast since 1984.