Coast Watch: Cooper Petitions to Take NC Off Drilling Plan

Following through on his promise to oppose drilling off the North Carolina coast, Gov. Roy Cooper last week formally petitioned to take NC off the US Interior Department’s draft drilling plan.

Cooper petitioned US Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke to exempt North Carolina from that department’s draft plan to open up an unprecedented amount of offshore area along our coasts to the risks of oil and gas drilling. Zinke had already swiftly granted a similar request from the governor of Florida.

“The Trump Administration, through their decision on Florida, has admitted that offshore drilling is a threat to coastal economies and tourism,” Cooper said. “Offshore drilling holds the same risks for North Carolina as it does for Florida and North Carolina deserves the same exemption. As I said last summer, not off our coast.”

Leaders from other coastal states objecting to drilling off their states’ coasts made note last week of the inconsistent nature of the quick decision to drop just Florida from the draft drilling plan. Virginia’s US Sen. Tim Kaine asked: Why drop Florida and not Virginia? “Is it because the governor of Florida is a Republican and the Virginia governor and governor-elect are Democrats? Are they putting Florida off-limits because President Trump has a vacation property — Mar-a-Lago — on the Atlantic coast of Florida and he worries about the environmental risk there, but he’s not worried about environmental risk in Virginia?”

Sierra Club executive director Michael Brune offered a legal critique. Referring to remarks by Zinke, Brune said, “The Administrative Procedure Act requires there to be a reasonable rationale behind agency decisions, and that they can’t be arbitrary and capricious. So, saying Florida is exempt because Rick Scott is straightforward and trustworthy? That Florida’s coastlines are unique? That seems to be the definition of arbitrary and capricious.”

NCLCV is once again appealing to its supporters to add your voices to the wave of opposition to drilling off North Carolina’s sensitive and priceless coast.

Up next, Atlantic Coast Pipeline questions continue to mount >>