RALEIGH — North Carolina Gov. Josh Stein and South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster called on the Trump administration to keep in place an offshore drilling moratorium that was issued in 2020.
Stein is a Democrat and McMaster is a Republican.
The governors made the request to keep the moratorium in place in a June 15 letter to Kelly Hammerle of the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM).
“We write on behalf of our states of North Carolina and South Carolina in response to the Request for Information and Comments on the Preparation of the 11th National Outer Continental Shelf Oil and Gas Leasing Program to urge you to maintain the existing moratorium on offshore oil and gas exploration, development, and production off our coasts,” the governors wrote.
The governors’ letter urges BOEM to maintain the existing moratorium on offshore oil and gas exploration, development, and production off their states’ coasts, as established by President Donald Trump’s memoranda in September 2020, which protect the waters until June 30, 2032.
Stein and McMaster emphasized the economic and environmental importance of the North and South Carolina coastal zones, which support industries like tourism, fishing and shipbuilding.
“In 2021 alone, North and South Carolina’s coastal economy contributed $9.6 billion to the GDP, supported more than 125,000 jobs and provided $3.8 billion in wages, led by robust tourism and recreation, shipbuilding, fishing, and marine transportation industries,” Stein and McMaster wrote. “These industries, which are the economic lifeblood of our coastal communities, are also highly vulnerable to disruption from offshore oil and gas exploration, development, and production.”
The two governors also raised the issue of the military installations in their shared coastal area.
“Our coasts are also home to critical military installations that are vital to national security,” wrote the governors. “Offshore oil and gas infrastructure and activities, including seismic testing, can interfere with these operations, weakening our national defense.”
The letter also noted that every coastal municipality in both states has passed resolutions opposing offshore drilling and seismic testing.
Stein’s predecessor, former Gov. Roy Cooper, also strongly opposed any offshore drilling activities.
“It’s clear that opening North Carolina’s coast to oil and gas exploration and drilling would bring unacceptable risks to our economy, our environment and our coastal communities — and for little potential gain,” said Cooper during a July 20, 2017, press event. “As governor, I’m here to speak out and take action against it. I can sum it up in four words: not off our coast.”
Cooper continued to keep up the pressure through January 2018, including participating in a joint letter with seven other coastal Atlantic state governors to then-Interior Department Secretary Ryan Zinke, who is now a congressman from Montana. The letter asked for exemptions from offshore drilling exploration for those states, similar to one granted to Florida by the Trump administration.
By September that year, North Carolina Republican Sen. Thom Tillis announced that Trump would “extend the offshore drilling moratorium to North Carolina.”
