RALEIGH
The oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico has brought a halt to the already complicated and time-consuming process of opening drilling operations anywhere near North Carolina's coast.
There is only "a remote chance" that oil from the gulf will reach North Carolina beaches, according to a state advisory that quotes the U.S. Coast Guard. So the spill's effect here is more likely to be one of policy.
A federal drilling moratorium is in place, pre-empting plans to OK operations off Virginia's coast in the next two years.
At the state Capitol, a legislative committee's examination of the pros and cons of offshore drilling and other energy sources will be reworked, though even before the spill it recommended caution before delving into the rich marine habitats beyond the Outer Banks.
State legislators are considering a bill that would rework state regulations on damages an oil company must pay should a spill ever affect the state. Legislation in Congress could end up giving states more power over the drill-licensing process, which in large part is a federal issue.
In short, it is time "for us to take a deep breath on this," said James Leutze,
a co-chairman of the legislative study committee, which issued its report this month after a year of testimony and study.
"(Petroleum officials) told us there was absolutely no problem and no danger of spills," Leutze said Friday. "It turns out that that information is incorrect."
Leutze and others will gather on Thursday to be part of another panel on offshore drilling, this one called by Gov. Bev Perdue.
The group will continue work done by the legislative committee that Leutze, the chancellor emeritus at UNC Wilmington, was co-chairman of with Doug Rader, the chief oceans scientist for the Environmental Defense Fund. It also will zero in on wind energy, which the legislative committee suggested "could produce a significant proportion of the state's energy needs," though it added the caveat, "in theory."
The governor is looking forward to the new committee's recommendations, Press Secretary Christine Mackey said Friday. Perdue remains interested in "all forms of offshore energy," though they must be proven safe before any are implemented, Mackey said.
When it comes to oil and natural gas, Perdue said recently that the state wants a share of oil revenues if any drilling leases are approved, something the legislative committee also recommended. That would take Congressional action.
Meanwhile, state legislators are separately moving to strip out a state code that limits what companies might pay "for the cost of oil or other hazardous substances cleanup." It's not clear how that effort, contained in House Bill 2014, dovetails with federal regulations, because the damage caps are set by federal rule.
In fact, the federal government holds most of the power when it comes to offshore drilling, though there are some complicated exceptions. A section of a pending climate-change bill also could shift the balance of power a bit, Rader said. Generally, the state controls what happens within 3 miles of its coast line. Beyond that, out to a distance of 200 miles, the state has an "advisory" role, which essentially allows it to make suggestions to the federal government.
There is, though, a provision in the federal fisheries act that allows a multi-state council to limit damage to marine habitats posed by "fishing and nonfishing threats," Rader said. With one of the richest marine environments in the world off North Carolina's coast, the state has "a fair amount of additional protections" and leverage when it comes to drilling rights, he said.
Those regulations mean that environmental activists are "way better off" than when they fought against the Manteo Project, a failed 1980s proposal to drill exploration wells off Cape Hatteras.
ctfain@yahoo.com
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