Coast Watch: Atlantic Governors Condemn Drilling “Ransom”
The governors of five Atlantic Coast states, including North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper, are condemning as “ransom” a congressional proposal to hit states which block offshore drilling with hefty federal fines.
The widely-condemned proposal would charge states which have blocked over half of their offshore area from drilling with a fee of at least 10% of the revenues which the federal government could have received if oil and gas drilling had taken place.
As opponents point out, this would penalize states for acting to protect their own natural resources from the risks of drilling. Rep. Raúl M. Grijalva (D-AZ) said, “Penalizing states for protecting their own beaches is what you’d see in a petro-state, not in a modern democracy.”
Cooper joined with the governors of Virginia, New Jersey, Connecticut, and Rhode Island in speaking out against the plan. He said, “North Carolina should not have to pay a ransom to protect our beaches from the dangers of offshore drilling. Our coastal communities generate more than 30,000 jobs and the risk posed by offshore drilling simply isn’t worth it.”
