Meetings held to discuss offshore drilling

WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY) — State and local community members are debating offshore drilling on our coast. This comes after the president proposed to lift a restriction on drilling in the Atlantic.

Meetings were held in Downtown Wilmington and Wrightsville Beach today to discuss both sides of the topic.

Algenon Cash, a spokesperson with the America’s Energy Forum, says drilling off of our coast could bring upwards of 280,000 jobs.

“It could be huge for energy,” Cash said. “It could be huge for jobs, and it also could just lower the cost of energy. The way this works is the more energy we produce and the more abundant it is, the less as consumers have to pay for it, the less that our businesses have to pay for it, the less that our government has to pay for it.”

Liz Kazal with the Environment North Carolina Research & Policy Center says drilling is something that comes with risks. Kazal said she lived through the BP oil spill in Mississippi.

“My community was devastated by the disaster,” Kazal said. “Tar balls were washing up on to the beaches I had spent my childhood on. My friends and family actually started to get sick because of the exposure to oil. Small businesses across the coast closed because our tourism industry tanked.”

Cash says with anything there are risks.

“Yes, there are risks in exploring for oil and gas but it’s something that we work closely with our regulators and elected officials to make sure that we have the right policies in place so that we can protect and reserve the environment,” Cash said.

Kazal says that risk is why she is pushing to save her new home in North Carolina.

“Think about all of the people that rely on on the booming tourism industry and the pristine beaches to bring millions of visitors to the outer banks and to Wilmington each and every year,” Kazal said. “For those beaches to be protected for future generations and for now, the only safe to protect them is to keep drilling off our coast.”

Both sides are asking citizens to reach out to their legislatures and tell them what they think about offshore drilling in the Atlantic before those sites are leased out in 2021.