Don’t paint the Gulf Stream with oil — oppose plans to drill for oil and gas off the North Carolina coast.
The North Carolina Coastal Federation opposes offshore oil and gas drilling off the North Carolina coast, and we have been against this controversial and potentially destructive process for three decades. We first opposed drilling in the late 1980s when Mobil Oil leased federally designated tracts for oil and gas exploration off our coast. We will continue that opposition despite the recent executive order that directs the Department of Interior to review locations for offshore oil drilling, including those taken off the table in 2016.
The oil industry does not have a clean track record. If they drill they will spill. The industry wants to drill in one of the most amazing and productive fishing habitats in the world, in very deep water where accidents could have catastrophic effects on our fish and wildlife, beaches, estuaries — and existing coastal communities, businesses and traditions. It’s just not worth the risk.
Register your concerns with Gov. Roy Cooper. In your own words, ask him to follow in the footsteps of former Gov. Jim Martin who in 1990 decided that he could not determine that oil and gas drilling was consistent with North Carolina’s federally approved coastal management program. Ask Gov. Cooper to let the federal government know that the North Carolina coast is off limits for drilling! Please email us to let us know you took action.
To learn more about our past efforts to prevent offshore oil drilling off our coast, go to nccoast.org/oil.
