On the recordJuly 7, 2015
I appreciate my colleague's comments on the subject. The reason we need this step is to guarantee that the folks in North Carolina get a shot at these jobs. We are talking about 55,000 jobs and potentially as much as $3 billion in economic development in our State. Frankly, it has been frustrating how hard it has been to get this process moved forward. If you look at the proposed lease sale, the sale is allowed in the fourth year of the 5-year period. Only one sale is even allowed. An artificial buffer of 50 miles was inserted into the sale. We are getting one sale late in the 5-year period, with a 50-mile buffer, when the old seismic shows that most of that oil and gas is around 25 miles out. The ``yes'' that we got from the administration and the fact this process is even moving forward is good news for North Carolina and the other States on the Atlantic Coast; but it is certainly not, in my opinion, an appropriate response to the potential we have got there. I agree with the gentlewoman when she said the seismic is old; the seismic was done in the late seventies, but this administration has called for new seismic mapping. I am looking forward to that because, again, we want to use good science. We have given one opportunity pretty far out in the fourth year of a 5-year period, and I am afraid we are going to lose that because, if you look at the history under this administration, there was a lease sale proposed in Virginia and that was taken away.…
