PRESS STATEMENT
Date: April 25, 2019
From: South Carolina Small Business Chamber of Commerce
Subject: New five year plan for offshore drilling delay should delay exploration permits
Contact: Frank Knapp, President/CEO, 803-252-5733 (w), 803-600-6874 (c),
fknapp@scsbc.org
Below is a statement of Frank Knapp Jr., President and CEO of the South Carolina Small Business Chamber of Commerce regarding news of an indefinite delay of a new five year plan for offshore oil drilling reported today by the Wall Street Journal.
————————————————————————————————————————————————-
If a new five year plan is being sidelined indefinitely and a future court ruling may “discombobulate” the plan already ready to be rolled out, then this is great news for opponents of offshore drilling in the Atlantic, Pacific and Arctic. This delay could push off any final plan approval until after the next Presidential election and possibly a new President who could stop the new plan from being implemented.
But this is also good news for opponents of seismic testing in the Atlantic. Exploration and drilling plans should go hand-in-hand. If a new five year plan is being delayed, so should any permits for seismic airgun blasting. A discombobulated drilling plan might not include any areas planned for exploration. We shouldn’t be using destructive exploration techniques in areas that will possibly not be offered for drilling.
When the Obama Administration denied permits for seismic testing back in January of 2017, reasons included:
- The Atlantic Program Area is not offered for leasing considerations for the next five years.
- There is still the possibility that seismic survey information would not be used if the Atlantic is not offered for future oil and gas leasing.
- Any data from seismic surveys may still become outdated if leasing is far in the future.
All of these reasons for not approving seismic permits are even more valid with today’s news of an indefinite delay for any new five year plan for drilling leases in the Atlantic.
###
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.