Local officials taking action
Legislator to convene study committee to analyze effects on S.C.
COLUMBIA — 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.
Reach Yvonne Wenger at ywenger@ postandcourier.com or 803-799-9051.
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Comments
moonpie (anonymous) says...
Drill,drill,drill and SC will have another economic boom. Look at the gulf region, this is where all the job opportunities are located. Why because thats where the US drills for oil and refines it into gasoline.
Pay the citizens of SC revenue sharing (like Alaska) and they'll jump on board with this tomorrow.
September 26, 2008 at 7:06 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
justmyview (anonymous) says...
Seems like if there was a possibility of oil or natural gas deposits anywhere within South Carolina the oil companies would have been here decades ago. According to someone who knows something about oil exploration, South Carolina probably will not be the next Alaska.
http://www.charleston.net/news/2008/s...
September 26, 2008 at 7:36 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
Neponset (anonymous) says...
I think we should not have all of our eggs (ie rigs) in one basket (ie the gulf) - we are less susceptible to storm disruption and could contribute to total output. I say drill the SC coast, if it is economically practical, and in my IMHO I think it is.
September 26, 2008 at 8:05 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
dwatts (anonymous) says...
There is no need to worry, you can bet that after the election the ban will be renewed.
September 26, 2008 at 8:09 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
tues_nite (anonymous) says...
Not enough there to break even. Wind however is endless. Just keep going to the store in your giant car with your v-8
September 26, 2008 at 9:05 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
Neponset (anonymous) says...
tues_nite
"Not enough there to break even"
Are you speaking as an expert on the oil content of our shelf or are you shooting from the hip? Granted, the GOMEX has received far greater deposits of the materials that have resulted in the formation of oil deposits, but coastal Carolina has also received a good deal - I hope it is sufficient to warrant drilling.
Wind power is fine, if the economics for our area support it - but wind is not free, when you consider the machinery necessary to collect this energy.
September 26, 2008 at 10:30 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
Rebel_Yell (anonymous) says...
Wag the oil dog for the little people of SC! If there is oil worth drilling, it would be in Goose Creek and the upstate as well. Drill there first since since those places are crapholes already and will be less impacted by big storms.
In the end, do whatever NC does -- they seem to have a lot more common sense in the last twenty years than the politicians and me-first majority of SC. Sad to say, but it's true. Follow NC's lead for once and we might not be last in everything.
September 26, 2008 at 10:43 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
Neponset (anonymous) says...
Rebel
If there is oil in the ground, under my house, I would sign the papers and let the oil folks set up a rig in my yard, so long as I get a piece of the action.
September 26, 2008 at 10:55 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
wjhamilton3 (anonymous) says...
By the time any oil off our coast is in production, the fall off in older reserves in Alaska, California and Texas will have become so large that whatever we have is unlikely to replace it. However if we deregulate everything involved, maybe we'll just lose our entire seafood industry to drilling mud and sludge ending up on the sea floor. Hopefully we'll pick up enough oil jobs for a generation or two to make up for all the jobs in shrimping, fishing, tourism fishing and shellfish that we now have. We'll just take the Oil Industry's word for all of this since we're not willing to pay the cost of having our own experts on the state payroll to regulate and watch them.
September 26, 2008 at 11:08 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
Neponset (anonymous) says...
wj
I got news for you, our sea food industry is all but dead and so is it around the country -pollution and overfishing have already done the deed. Lets drill and create some new industries.
September 26, 2008 at 11:21 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
zoomru (anonymous) says...
Yvonne WENGER .....!! I DEMOTED YOU !!! DO I NEED TO FIRE YOU TOO !!!!
You give these VOTE PIMPERS press but yet fail to ..ROAST THEM !!!!
MY BACKSIDE !!!!
SC SENATOR Campbell and Massey !!!...where have you 2 BEEN ??
You should have called for this on the FIRST day you took OFFICE !!! YOU FOOL NO ONE !!! Buckos !!!
YOU LEAD FROM THE ...FRONT !!!! Good ..GOD !!!
YOU TWO NEED TO BE VOTED OUT OF OFFICE !!!! We taxpayers work too hard to support you 2 VOTE PIMPERS !!
WHAT About offshore WINDFARMS ??
WHAT about ALGAE...ETHANOL ??
WHAT about energy from OUR TRASH and CLOSING all OUR state's LANDFILLS ...FOREVER !!!
BEN MOORE........energy and climate program director for the Coastal Conservation League, cautioned the state's officials to conduct a rigorous cost-benefit analysis.."
I highly suggest you start acting like a South Carolinian!!!
If NOT....MOVE !!!
September 26, 2008 at 11:24 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
geekboy (anonymous) says...
"However if we deregulate everything involved, maybe we'll just lose our entire seafood industry to drilling mud and sludge ending up on the sea floor."
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Uh.... Why don't you take a trip to south Louisiana and take a look at their thriving seafood industry... Take a look at the boats that come back every day loaded down with catch...
Kinda blows away your unfounded theory.
September 26, 2008 at 1:01 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
martin (anonymous) says...
Since when do state governments get into the oil drilling business?
I have no doubt that oil companies looked at the geological conditions conducive to oil and natural gas production in every square inch of tha USA years ago. Why wouldn't they look at all of the lower 48 before they go to the inhospitable conditions in Alaska?
The oil companies already know where the oil is and will drill it. Sen. Campbell disproves the notion that you have to have good sense to work in the private sector. We don't need to be pouring our state's limited resourcesa into committees to bother with what the oil business can do on it's on.
Do you have to have an IQ of 80 or below to get into the legislator?
September 26, 2008 at 1:26 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
Neponset (anonymous) says...
stand
I am sure it is not the worlds longest sentence, nor the the most logical thought. Drill where the oil is!
September 26, 2008 at 5:55 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
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