Speakers discuss to drill or not to drill

WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY) — To drill or not to drill? That was the question at the center of a discussion Tuesday night at the Wilson Center in downtown Wilmington.

Two speakers, former Shell Oil President John Hofmeister and explorer and environmentalist Jean-Michel Cousteau, gave their perspectives on the topic at the sold out event which was followed by a question and answer session.

Here is a little bit of what each speaker had to say about offshore drilling at the event:

“There are so many opportunities to stop the oil industry and focus on all the other industries that can be created without the emission of CO2,” Cousteau said.

“Oil and gas, we know what to do,” Hofmeister said. “We know how to do it. We know how to do it safely. We know how to take the risk out of oil and gas and it creates huge, great jobs — huge numbers of great jobs.”

Before Tuesday night’s discussion officially began, the Wilmington-based citizen’s action group Save Our Sea hosted a rally outside the Wilson Center to oppose offshore drilling.

An organizer said the group wanted to make their voices heard in a respectful, civil way.

“A lot of the speculation is that it’s a jobs versus anti-jobs when it’s not,” Save Our Sea Co-Founder Bruce Holsten said. “What it is is preserving the integrity of our beaches and our ocean and the livelihoods of the majority of the people who work in this coastal community.”

Holsten added that Save Our Sea plans to have many events in the future.

For more information about other events coming to the Wilson Center, click here.

For more information about Save Our Sea, click here.