^UNC Sea Grant 

 \ 10/3 



V 



March, 1983 



Dm 



coast Swatch 



Courtesy of the Exxon Corp. 



Oil-drilling platforms off Louisiana, in the Gulf of Mexico 



Offshore oil: what's in it for North Carolina? 



When oil companies finally plunge 

 their drills into North Carolina's outer 

 continental shelf, chances are that 

 folks on the beaches won't even know 

 the drilling is going on. 



But that hasn't stopped them from 

 asking questions. They want to know 

 what an oil find would mean for the 

 state. Will there be economic benefits? 

 Will the drilling mean more jobs? Will 

 it pose a harm to the environment? In 



short, they want to know, what will be 

 the costs and benefits of offshore oil 

 drilling for North Carolina? 



The fact is that no one knows for 

 sure what it'll mean for the state. We 

 can't look to other states for answers 

 because what's happened with offshore 

 oil drilling there doesn't always apply 

 in North Carolina. The water is much 

 deeper off our coast and the currents 

 much stronger. 



And then there are those who point 

 out that any discussion of these ques- 

 tions is premature. After all, there may 

 not even be any oil out there. 



What we do know is that for now, 

 while companies are still in the ex- 

 ploration stage, there probably won't 

 be any boom towns on the state's 

 coast. Eric Vernon, coordinator of the 

 state's Outer Continental Shelf Task 



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