On April 21, 2016, the Jacksonville Daily News and the New Bern Sun-Journal ran a letter to the editor from Jenny Kelvington, executive director of the Energy Group in the N.C. Department of Environmental Quality. In that letter, Ms. Kelvington asserted that the decision made by the Obama administration to not allow offshore drilling off the North Carolina coast cost our state jobs and money.
Simply put, Ms. Kelvington is wrong.
The decision not to allow drilling was a result of the Obama administration listening to the voices of more than two dozen communities that passed resolutions opposed to drilling and hundreds of local businesses. Further, with drilling off the table, our beaches and coastal economy will not be put at risk of a potentially disastrous oil spill like the BP Deepwater Horizon spill. This letter to editor shows that the McCrory administration is continuing its misguided push dangerous for offshore drilling.
Below is a response to Ms. Kelvington's letter from Penny Hooper, a coastal resident and outspoken critic of offshore drilling. Rather than send the letter to Jenny Kelvington, Penny wrote her letter to Jenny's boss, DEQ Secretary Don van der Vaart.
Dear Secretary van der Vaart,
I live in coastal NC and I worked very hard through grassroots activism to see that my husband's fishing operation, Hooper Family Seafood, and our pristine waters would not be threatened by offshore oil drilling. You may recall that I spoke to you at the NC Catch event you attended at Harker's Island in early March and I shared with you via email the NC Council of Churches Resolution against offshore oil drilling and seismic testing. I volunteer as Leadership Council Chair with NC Interfaith Power and Light (NCIPL) which is under the umbrella of the NC Council of Churches on issues about Creation Care through all faith based organizations. That Resolution was passed unanimously by representatives of 17 major faith judicatories in NC, representing approximately 1.5 million Christians in our great state. We are NOT "left wing radicals" ... we simply feel strongly that our faiths tell us that protecting this earth is one of the basic tenets of what we all believe is true.
As you know, since the time we spoke, BOEM has removed the mid Atlantic from the draft leasing plan for the next five years although Seismic Blasting may still occur. It is my desire to see the mid-Atlantic permanently be removed from drilling and Seismic Blasting.
I am writing because I was very upset by this opinion piece written by Jenny Kelvington, Executive Director of the Energy Group in the NC DEQ.
There was a similar Op Ed piece from DEQ in the New Bern Sun Journal which caused me to look up the Mission Statement of the DEQ. When was this Mission Statement written? The first line reads as follows:
"It is recognized that the N.C. Department of Environmental Quality’s primary mission is to protect North Carolina's environment and advance an all-of-the-above energy strategy that fits North Carolina’s needs."
I find this statement to be incredibly contradictory. How could the Division think that promoting offshore oil drilling and seismic blasting would ever be in the same sentence as protecting North Carolina's environment? How would that ever "fit North Carolina's needs" when our coastal region is totally dependent on clean air and water to sustain our existing vibrant tourism and commercial/recreational fishing businesses? If DEQ truly supports an "all of the above" energy strategy, then why is Jenny Kelvington not pushing for properly sited offshore wind or more solar in our state instead of talking about the "imaginary" lost jobs and revenue which were promised by the API? Your Division has repeatedly chosen the route of backing outdated fossil fuel technology (why, I wonder?), like fracking and offshore oil drilling, when we should be investing in the energy of tomorrow: wind and solar. I retired from teaching Biology at our local community college and I know that we need energy to run our economy and I know that every energy extraction practice comes with a cost. But the Concerned Citizens of the Crystal Coast are not willing to pay the price for offshore oil drilling or the associated seismic blasting. Our slogan is and will be long into the future: "All of the risks and none of the rewards." I have attached the current e-newsletter of our Carteret County Chamber of Commerce which represents about 900 local businesses and I hope you and Jenny Kelvington will read it carefully to see how your local constituents feel about jobs on the Crystal Coast. The Chamber passed their resolution against offshore oil drilling and seismic testing in September of 2015.
Please consider leaving the oil and gas in the ground and work on moving our state towards a cleaner tomorrow. Perhaps Ms. Kelvington can write another Op Ed that carries that message? That would be greatly appreciated.
Most sincerely,
Penny Hooper
Smyrna, NC