PRESS STATEMENT
Date: June 4, 2019
From: South Carolina Small Business Chamber of Commerce
Subject: Biden Commits to Day One Action on Offshore Drilling
Contact: Frank Knapp, President/CEO, 803-252-5733 (w), 803-600-6874 (c),
fknapp@scsbc.org
Today presidential candidate Joe Biden released his detailed plan for addressing climate change. Included in the plan is his commitment on day one including “banning new oil and gas permitting on public lands and waters.” In an April 24, 2019, opinion editorial in the Charleston Post and Courier, the president and CEO of the South Carolina Small Business Chamber of Commerce, Frank Knapp Jr., called a candidate’s pledge to “block offshore drilling in the Atlantic and curtail it in the other areas must be immediately carried out upon taking the oath of office” the litmus test that all candidates need to pass “if they hope to be victorious in coastal states.
Below is the statement of Frank Knapp Jr.
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Protecting our Atlantic Coast economies from the devastation of offshore drilling for oil requires more than words or legislative proposals that will probably never be passed. Vice President Joe Biden is demonstrating his commitment to that protection with his Day One pledge to use his executive power to ban “new oil and gas permitting on public lands and waters.”
With his plan for a Day One executive order, Biden is demonstrating his appreciation for the intricate relationship between a sustainable economy and a clean environment. No where is this more true than on the offshore oil issue.
Our current Administration believes that exploring and drilling for oil in the Atlantic will boost our coastal economies. Biden recognizes just the opposite is true. Offshore drilling always leads to oil spills and leaks regardless of technology. These inherent spills and leaks will destroy our vibrant local tourism, commercial fishing and recreation economies.
As the list of Democratic Presidential candidates adopting this first day of action on offshore oil grows, big oil should take notice. Their efforts to expand drilling permits on our public lands and waters will fail with a new Administration. If the petroleum companies are concerned about their profits, they should stop spending their time and money pushing for exploration and drilling for oil in our 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.