Energy Watch: North Carolina lawmakers to study offshore drilling

With a push on to open up new areas of the U.S. coast to oil and gas exploration, the North Carolina legislature has announced it will create a committee to study offshore drilling.

State Senate leader Marc Basnight (in photo at right) -- who represents part of the Outer Banks and opposes drilling due to environmental concerns -- made the announcement yesterday, the Associated Press reports:

"I have opened myself up to this review and this study," Basnight, a Democrat from coastal Dare County, told reporters. "I believe we should be on a fact-finding mission, one that will provide the kind of information that is now lacking."

North Carolina's move comes a week after the U.S. Interior Department opened a comment period on plans to drill off the Virginia coast not far from North Carolina's Outer Banks. Basnight and N.C. Gov. Mike Easley have called for a review of the Virginia proposal to understand its impact on their state's coast.

In 2006, the Virginia legislature passed a bill welcoming exploration, but only for natural gas. That's also been the position of Democratic Va. Gov. Tim Kaine, who says the government should require oil companies to drill first on the nearly 70 million acres they already lease before opening new areas.

Basnight raised concerns about whether drilling would worsen global warming, which is contributing to sea-level rise that's already impacting coastal communities in North Carolina and around the world.

Earlier this week, attorney Clark Wright Jr. spoke at a conference on offshore oil and gas exploration held at Carteret Community College on in the coastal town of Morehead City, N.C. Wright advised former Gov. Jim Martin during negotiations with Mobil when it held a lease for drilling off the Outer Banks 20 years ago, the Raleigh News & Observer reports:

"Somewhere in hurricane alley -- Norfolk or Charleston or Wilmington or Morehead City -- there are going to be tank farms, refineries and thousands of miles of pipeline," said Wright ... . "What is the Crystal Coast going to look like? Where would we put refineries?"