Offshore oil wells: how close is too close? 



In North Carolina, visions of oil ty- 

 coons wheeling and dealing to the 

 clang of drilling rigs are just that. 

 Visions. 



So far the people with the most to 

 say about oil have been the ones in 

 government. For North Carolina, the 

 focus has been on Gov. Jim Hunt and 

 his Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) 

 Task Force. 



On the national level, Secretary of 

 the Interior James Watt wants to 

 speed up offshore oil development and 

 to lessen the country's dependence on 

 foreign oil — at the expense of the en- 

 vironment, say some of his critics. 



Contrary to popular belief, Gov. 

 Hunt is not opposed to offshore oil 

 development. "The governor has 

 always been supportive of efforts to 

 develop new sources of oil and gas and 

 to lessen the country's dependence on 

 foreign sources," says Eric Vernon, 

 coordinator of the state's OCS Task 

 Force and chief policy analyst to the 

 governor on OCS matters. 



The United States imports 33 per- 

 cent of its petroleum needs from 

 foreign countries, many of them 

 politically unstable, says Angela 

 Waldorf, Associate Director for the 

 N.C. Petroleum Council, a trade 

 association for the industry. Propo- 

 nents of offshore development point to 

 the Arab oil embargo of late 1973 and 



Eric Vernon 



1974 and the 1978-1979 Iranian 

 revolution to demonstrate the 

 vulnerability of the nation to interrup- 

 tions in the flow of imported oil. 



Everyone agrees that the domestic 

 production of oil needs to be increased. 

 So, where's the controversy? 



While the state has jurisdiction over 

 the water, bottom lands and natural 

 resources extending three miles 

 offshore, the federal government con- 

 trols the area seaward from three to 

 200 miles. 



Still, what goes on in those waters 

 could affect the state, its resources, its 

 economy and its people — the things 

 Gov. Hunt has pledged to protect. 



Under the 1978 OCS Lands Act, the 

 governor of an affected state has the 

 authority to make recommendations 

 to the Secretary of the Interior and to 

 review planning and policy develop- 

 ment at various steps along the way. 

 Another safeguard, the Coastal Zone 

 Management Act, requires that any 

 federal activity be consistent with the 

 affected state's laws and policies. 



When Gov. Hunt decided to file suit 

 against the Department of Interior 

 over six environmentally risky tracts 

 offered in Lease Sale 56, it wasn't a 

 decision he reached on his own. In- 

 stead, he had the help of a task force, 

 funded by the federal government 

 through the Coastal Energy Impact 

 Program and designed to look after the 

 interests of North Carolina in outer 

 continental shelf matters. 



The 14-member group has represen- 

 tatives from Natural Resources and 

 Community Development, the De- 

 partment of Administration, Depart- 

 ment of Cultural Resources, Depart- 

 ment of Transportation, Department 

 of Commerce and local government. 



If the task force doesn't have the 

 know-how to deal with a problem or 

 question, they know whom to ask. 

 They've built up a network of experts 

 on OCS matters including researchers 

 from the state's universities as well as 

 from federal agencies such as the 

 Minerals Management Service. 



Even with all the advice, much of 

 what the task force bases its recom- 

 mendations on is supposition. What if. 



In the case of the first lease sale off 

 North Carolina, the group reviewed 

 the proposal and realized that six 

 tracts lay between 12 and 16 miles east 

 of Cape Lookout. What if a major oil 

 spill occurred on one of those tracts? 



That was a question that had 

 already been addressed. In an environ- 

 mental impact statement, the Depart- 

 ment of Interior estimated that a ma- 

 jor spill from the tracts near Cape 

 Lookout had a 25 percent chance of 

 reaching the beaches. 



Thus began a chain of reactions. The 



task force recommended that the 

 governor recommend that the Depart- 

 ment of Interior delete the six tracts 

 from the proposed sale. When the 

 Secretary of Interior rejected the 

 state's request, it was the task force's 

 turn to act again. They recommended 

 that Gov. Hunt sue to prevent the of- 

 fering of those six tracts. And he did 

 just that. 



Lease Sale 78, to be held this sum- 

 mer, will be the first to take place un- 

 der Secretary Watt's new five-year 

 plan. Former President Carter's 

 Secretary of Interior, Cecil Andrus, 

 identified areas of interest from the 

 government's point of view and from 

 the view of the private sector. Evalua- 

 tions and geological studies of the 

 tracts enabled the government to iden- 

 tify and offer the tracts of higher 

 interest. 



Now, under Secretary Watt's five- 

 year plan, a much larger acreage is of- 

 fered. There is little analysis prior to 

 the sale. The Department of Interior 

 identifies a broad area of interest and 

 lets the industry select the tracts of 

 most interest. 



"I don't think there's any doubt 

 about the changes to accelerate the 

 process to offer as much acreage as 

 possible and to get the government out 

 of the business of identifying the in- 

 teresting tracts," says Vernon. "The 

 Department of Interior has taken a 



"The governor has always been supportive of efforts to develop 

 new sources of oil and gas ..." — Eric Vernon 



