The Advocate of South Carolina Small Business
1717 Gervais Street • Columbia • SC • 29201
www.scsbc.org • (803) 252-5733
PRESS RELEASE
Date: January 15, 2020
From: South Carolina Small Business Chamber of Commerce
Subject: BREAKING NEWS: SC Senate Takes 1st Permanent Step Against Offshore Drilling
Contact: Frank Knapp, President/CEO, 803-252-5733 (w), 803-600-6874 (c),
fknapp@scsbc.org
BREAKING NEWS:
SC Senate Takes 1st Permanent Step Against Offshore Drilling
Columbia, SC—Today in a bi-partisan vote, a South Carolina state senate subcommittee voted to ban any state or local government efforts that would facilitate drilling for oil in the Atlantic Ocean. If enacted, this bill would make permanent what was in a one-year budget proviso passed last year.
Senate Bill S.870, which has 31 Republican and Democratic co-sponsors, would prohibit state and local governments from approving a plan, license, or permit application for infrastructure used to facilitate the transportation of crude oil or natural gas from the Atlantic Ocean into this state, or for the exploration, development, or production of offshore crude oil or natural gas.
“This is the first step in the South Carolina legislature telling the federal government that we don’t want any part of drilling for oil in the Atlantic, now or ever,” said Frank Knapp Jr., president and CEO of the South Carolina Small Business Chamber of Commerce that since January 2015 has opposed exploration and drilling for oil in the Atlantic.
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The South Carolina Small Business Chamber of Commerce is a statewide advocacy organization founded in 2000. With over 10,000 small business and entrepreneur supporters, it has successfully worked to make South Carolina more small business friendly in areas such as healthcare, taxation, regulation, worker training, energy/conservation, workers’ compensation and economic development.