McCrory: Offshore drilling means jobs

Submitted by ryanteaguebeckwith on July 1, 2008 - 9:06am.
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Pat McCrory says offshore drilling could create jobs.

Speaking at the Greenville Convention Center Monday, the Republican gubernatorial candidate said drilling for oil and natural gas could help the economy Down East, The Daily Reflector reports.

"The east has a higher unemployment rate and lower per capita income than the rest of the state," McCrory said. "But it does not have to be that way. With safe, environmentally sound drilling in the deep sea off our coast, we can create new high paying jobs, jobs that the people of our poor counties can fill."

McCrory also said the product could be piped to "inland eastern counties" for processing.

During a meeting with reporters in Raleigh, McCrory also mentioned the jobs angle, but the discussion veered onto other topics, so it's interesting to note the Greenville paper's take.

More information on the history of the Manteo Project is here.

Previously: Pipelines safer than tankers.

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What is the Manteo Project?

Submitted by ryanteaguebeckwith on June 30, 2008 - 5:25pm.
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Answer:

A potential area for oil drilling off the Outer Banks.

In 1981, three oil companies — Mobil Corp., Marathon and Amerada Hess Corp. — began leasing an area about 45 miles off Cape Hatteras called the Manteo Exploration Unit. 

In 1989, the companies turned a draft plan for oil exploration into the U.S. Department of the Interior. Though federal officials said the plan would not harm the coast, environmentalists and residents objected. 

In August of 1990, Congress passed the Outer Banks Protection Act, which barred the Interior department from issuing any new offshore drilling leases just before Mobil sank its first exploratory well.

The moratorium was later extended along the entire East Coast to 2012.

The companies sued, arguing that the government had essentially changed the rules in the middle of the permitting process.

In 2000, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed, ruling 8-1 that the federal government Mobil and Marathon $156 million in permitting fees.

There are currently no active leases off the Atlantic coast.

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