A proposal to open off-limits federal offshore areas to drilling was announced on Jan. 4 by the U.S. Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke.
The new five-year plan is a continuation of the National Outer Continental Shelf Oil and Gas Leasing Program, or the National OCS Program.
Under the proposal, over 90 percent of the Outer Continental Shelf acreage would be made available for potential oil and gas lease sales, including North Carolina’s coast. Currently, 94 percent of the OCS is off-limits, and there are no existing leases in the Atlantic Ocean.
According to the Department’s statement, opening up these offshore areas would free up more than 98 percent of undiscovered, technically recoverable oil and gas resources in these federal offshore areas.
In July, 36 Republican senators, including North Carolina Sens. Richard Burr and Thom Tillis, signed a letter in support of further offshore drilling under the National OCS Program. The letter stated, "Offshore leasing benefits the economies of all of the states, helps reduce the federal deficit, provides affordable energy to families and businesses and strengthens our national security.”
An emailed statement from Sen. Tillis’ office expressed the senator’s support for the plan, saying, “While Sen. Tillis is supportive of oil and gas exploration along the Outer Continental Shelf with some conditions, he believes the decision should be ultimately left to states.”
The statement also said coastal communities should be given the opportunity to benefit from any revenues that could be derived, particularly when it comes to beach renourishment, dredging and conservation funds.
Florida Gov. Rick Scott received an exemption for his state one week after the plan was announced. On the exemption, Zinke tweeted a portion of his statement, “I support the governor’s position that Florida is unique and its coasts are heavily reliant on tourism as an economic driver.”
Scott’s exemption was met with backlash from other states that also depend on coastal tourism. California Rep. Adam Schiff replied to Zinke’s tweet, saying, “Dear Secretary Zinke, California like Florida, has hundreds of miles of beautiful coastline and a governor who wants to keep it that way. Or is that not enough for blue states?”