Local officials taking action
Legislator to convene study committee to analyze effects on S.C.
The federal moratorium on new offshore drilling sits just days short of expiring as state legislators discussed plans Thursday to position South Carolina to tap its resources.
Sen. Paul Campbell, R-Goose Creek, said he is preparing to call a meeting of a state study committee to come up with answers to some basic questions: How extensive are oil and natural gas reserves along the state’s 187 miles of coastline, and is it worth it to drill?
“With the cost of energy where it is today, we need to make a determination from a South Carolina perspective about what’s available to us and what the inherent dangers are,” said Campbell, who is co-chairing the 20-member study committee alongside Rep. Michael Thompson, R-Anderson.
Campbell is a retired Alcoa executive and a chemical engineer.
The committee, which was established by legislation passed in 2007, is expected to meet next month and has a goal of preparing a report for the Legislature by the end of November.
First, the members must be briefed on what congressional directive is in place after the ban expires Tuesday and ask experts how much oil and gas exists off the coast, Campbell said. Next, they need to know what implications drilling could have on the state’s environment and on the its tourism industry, he said.
Meanwhile, Sen. Shane Massey, R-Edgefield, is calling for another simultaneous approach. He is petitioning the U.S. Department of the Interior to include South Carolina in its upcoming five-year offshore drilling plan. He wants others to join him.
The agency, which controls leases in federal-controlled waters, is in the preliminary stages of preparing its next plan, which would run from 2010 to 2015.
“The national moratorium is set to expire next week,” Massey said. “With that deadline looming, it is a good time for us to get involved in the process.”
Ben Moore, energy and climate program director for the Coastal Conservation League, cautioned the state’s officials to conduct a rigorous cost-benefit analysis before they endorse a plan for offshore drilling, should it become an option.
By Yvonne Wenger
The Post and Courier
September 26, 2008
