CI f t deck 



New Water Qualify 

 Specialist 



Water pollution is an ever-growing 

 concern among people who love the 

 coast. But water quality is also weighty 

 business to industries and local 

 governments required by law to keep 

 pace with new regulations that can be 

 complex and far-reaching. 



UNC Sea Grant has responded to 



Barbara Doll 



these needs with a new full-time 

 position for a water quality specialist. 



Barbara Doll joins the Marine 

 Advisory Service staff as water quality 

 specialist on Aug. 17. She holds a 

 master's degree in civil engineering 

 from N.C. State University, with a 

 focus on water resources and biology. 



A native of Knotts Island in 

 northern Currituck County, Doll will 

 work with local decision-makers — 

 county and municipal planners and 

 policy-makers — on a range of water 

 quality issues. 



This staffing is particularly impor- 

 tant because state and federal laws are 

 passing more regulations onto local 

 governments, which often lack the 

 expertise and resources to come into 

 compliance, says MAS Director Jim 

 Murray. 



Doll will help find economical 

 solutions to water quality problems and 

 develop a system for distributing useful 

 university and agency research. 



She also plans to emphasize the 

 importance of regulations that protect 

 coastal waters. 



"Most people see the need in having 

 good water quality," Doll says. "And 

 they're more willing to help when they 

 understand." 



A 1992 graduate, Doll also has a 

 year of experience as a staff engineer 

 for Westinghouse Environmental 

 Geotechnical Services Inc., a Raleigh 

 consulting firm. There, she worked on 

 earthen dam designs and construction 

 sites before entering graduate school. 



Doll says her year in the engineer- 

 ing field convinced her to apply her 

 degree toward water quality work. 



It's easy to raise awareness of 

 environmental problems, she says, but 

 difficult to find answers. Engineers and 

 scientists are equipped to do this. 



Murray says the Sea Grant Advi- 

 sory Board recently rated water quality 

 as a top priority for advisory services. 

 And, he says, a recent public opinion 

 poll in the Albemarle-Pamlico region 

 identified declining water quality as a 

 pressing concern. 



Debate on Drilling 



The federal government believes oil 

 and natural gas run deep off North 

 Carolina's coast, but the odds that these 

 energy sources will be mined in the 

 coming decade remain uncertain. 



Ultimately, Congress will decide the 

 extent to which the oil and gas industry 

 is allowed to develop offshore energy 

 sources. 



A 1991 report by the Minerals 

 Management Service (MMS) says an 

 untapped basin in the Atlantic Ocean, 

 called the Carolina Trough, could yield 

 up to 16 trillion cubic feet of natural gas 

 and 690 million barrels of oil. 



In May, the MMS released the 

 proposed final five-year leasing 

 program for 1992-1997. MMS is the 

 Interior Department agency responsible 

 for leasing areas offshore for oil and gas 

 exploration. 



If approved, the program would 

 allow the industry to bid for the rights to 

 explore and develop 250 Atlantic coast 

 lease blocks, each about 9 miles square. 

 The lease blocks are selected from 

 among 916 that stretch from northern 

 Delaware to Georgia. They include 438 

 tracts between 19 and 170 miles off the 

 North Carolina coast. 



But tapping into this resource may 

 not be feasible now. 



Given the continued controversy 

 over the Mobil Oil Corp. leases off 

 North Carolina — located north of the 

 Carolina Trough — some officials 

 doubt any company would risk bidding 

 on the tracts. The Mobil leases are the 

 subject of legislation that would direct 

 the Interior Department to buy them 

 back. 



The current political climate, paired 

 with concerns about the environmental 

 impacts of offshore drilling and ready 

 supplies of natural gas, will probably 

 keep any exploratory drilling at bay for 

 the next 10 years, says Kim Crawford, 

 assistant director of the Outer Continen- 

 tal Shelf Office and executive director 

 of the N.C. Ocean Affairs Council. 



Also, there are onshore concerns 

 about the potential impacts of a gas 

 processing plant or oil refinery and 

 pipelines on tourism in the coastal 

 communities. 



Although the trough does not 

 include the Mobil lease blocks, which 

 are north of Cape Hatteras, the oil and 

 gas projections could have a bearing on 

 the buyback debate. 



Congress is wrangling with the issue 

 in two energy bills, passed separately in 

 the House and Senate. A House-Senate 

 conference to resolve the differences is 



22 JULY AUGUST 1992 



