Some say N.C. should consider off-shore drilling

MOREHEAD CITY — North Carolina should consider whether it would receive money from oil exploration off its coast and how it would balance an oil industry with its coastal tourism economy, speakers at a conference said today.

Carteret County commissioners recently passed a resolution supporting oil and gas exploration off North Carolina’s coast, prompting local economic development officials to hold a conference on the topic to get further information.

“If states like North Carolina decide to do this, make sure you’re going to get revenue,” said Sidney Coffee, a former coastal adviser to Louisiana’s governor. Currently states receive 50 percent of the revenue from mineral leases on land but typically do not receive any payments for offshore drilling. Under current federal law, North Carolina would not receive any share of the lease revenues for drilling in federal waters.

The U.S. Minerals Management Service recently took the first step to offer leases for oil and natural gas exploration offshore of Virginia in an area about 50 miles from North Carolina’s Outer Banks. The federal agency, which manages leases for oil and natural gas on the Outer Continental Shelf, is drafting a five-year plan for additional leases from 2010 to 2015. That plan will be released in January.

Jon Hrobsky, deputy director of the agency, said oil companies had expressed an interest in exploration in the mid-Atlantic region, which includes North Carolina, Virginia and Maryland.