Last month, President Obama proposed a bill opening up a large portion of the East Coast and other protected areas in the Gulf of Mexico and Alaska to offshore drilling. The Senate also passed a resolution last month allowing South Carolina to receive a percentage of government revenues from natural gas drilling in the Outer Continental Shelf equal to that of the current percentage of revenue that four Gulf Coast states receive for drilling for oil and gas off their coastlines. As environmentalists are beginning to panic for the health and safety of our local waters, the worst has yet to come. Last Wednesday, a bill allowing South Carolina’s Department of Health and Environmental Control to speedily review offshore drilling applications and award permits for offshore exploration, drilling or oil and gas production after federal restrictions are removed was advanced by a South Carolina Senate panel to seek approval from the Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee. The chairman of the Senate panel, Senator Paul Campbell, led a study last year that finds that it is highly unlikely that a viable amount of oil exists off the coast of South Carolina, but it is very likely that natural gas deposits are located at a reasonable distance from the shore.The first lease sale for drilling and area 50 miles off of the coast of Virginia could happen as early as 2012. Republican Senator Jake Knotts opposed the proposal of speeding up the review and approval of applications for drilling permits because of the threat to US coastal waters.
I agree with Senator Knotts and the environmentalists who worry about the safety of our American coastal waters, beaches, and marine life. Though the permits would stimulate the economies of coastal states involved in offshore drilling, the risk of damages crippling our coastal shores is very high. I think that rather than drilling for natural nonrenewable resources, we should instead be investing in renewable technologies such as offshore wind energy.
--Maggie Chan
