Coast Watch: Massive Opposition to Offshore Drilling

A wave of coastal residents, officials, and conservationists opposed to offshore drilling poured over the federal agency representatives in Raleigh last week.

More than 400 concerned residents packed the meeting rooms and cheered at the news event in opposition to drilling off the North Carolina coast. Local officials made the trip from the coast to Raleigh to make their opposition clear. And North Carolina’s chief environmental department head personally appeared to thank drilling opponents for speaking up.

This groundswell of popular opposition stood in marked contrast to the small side event hosted in private by the American Petroleum Institute. Only money need apply there, it seemed. The public was neither invited nor welcome.

There’s still time for drilling opponents to submit additional comments to the federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) before the record closes on the proposal to open most of the United States’ coast to oil and gas drilling.  The deadline for written comments is March 9, 2018.

NCLCV is one of more than a dozen citizen conservation advocacy groups participating in the anti-drilling education campaign.

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