Blog | Report: Obama to allow oil drilling off South Carolina coast. Is that good or bad for Myrtle Beach, and tourism?
According to a report from our McClatchy D.C. Bureau, the Obama administration will allow oil drilling off the coast of South Carolina and other places along the East Coast:
The proposal appears to allow drilling in areas off Virginia and the Carolinas, while excluding Florida, Maryland and Delaware. The Interior Department is expected to release details of the five-year lease plan, covering 2017 to 2022, on Tuesday afternoon and isn’t commenting on the specifics in the meantime.
It would mark the first time in decades that oil drilling is allowed off the East Coast, and is sure to be highly controversial. The decision does not require Congressional approval but Charles Ebinger, a senior fellow in the Energy Security and Climate Initiative at the Brookings Institution, said he expects court battles and environmental groups file lawsuits over the plan.
"It will be a battle royale," Ebinber said.
Lots of Obama’s critics have complained that he hasn’t allowed enough domestic oil drilling. Will this change that?
More importantly for us, will this be a good thing for Myrtle Beach and South Carolina, given the importance of tourism here?
Is it just fear-mongering to demand that the potential sight of oil rigs - or oil spills - should be factored into this kind of decision before we move forward?
Gas and oil prices have already plunged, in large part, because of an increase in the domestic supply, and many analysts believe that though prices are likely to go up in the not-too-distant future, they won’t return to the sky high levels we suffered through for the past several years. Given that, do we need more areas freed up for oil drilling?
I’m not sure.
This story was originally published January 27, 2015 at 10:32 AM with the headline "Blog | Report: Obama to allow oil drilling off South Carolina coast. Is that good or bad for Myrtle Beach, and tourism?."