Offshore Energy (Oil) Could Create 6,700 Jobs for N. Carolina

July 28th, 2009 by Timothy B. Hurst

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East Coast states gearing-up for a push to develop “energy” on the Outer Continental Shelf.

Just days after California lawmakers rejected a proposal that would have approved the first new offshore oil leases in state waters in forty years, industry organizations are lining-up on the East Coast to tout the economic benefits of offshore oil and gas development. According to a new report (pdf) released by the Southeast Energy Alliance—a consortium of utilities, oil and gas companies, manufacturing associations, and major power purchasers—North Carolina alone could receive up to $577 million annually in revenue sharing payments from offshore energy development.

But even though the Department of Interior recently reported that the shallow coastal waters of the Mid-Atlantic—including those in and around North Carolina’s Outer Banks—are ripe for large-scale wind energy development, the report defines energy solely in terms of fossil fuel.

Now, I should be clear about one thing here. The report, titled “Potential Job Creation, Economic Benefits and

Revenue Sharing from Oil and Natural Gas

Exploration and Production in North Carolina,” was developed to highlight the economic benefits of fossil fuel development on the Outer Continental Shelf, and specifically the benefits of revenue-sharing with the federal government to reap more royalty monies from oil and gas development. And that’s fine.

But if industry associations and umbrella advocacy groups like the Southeast Energy Alliance, and its parent organization, the Consumer Energy Alliance, are going to wave the “all of the above” energy policy banner, they ought to do so in earnest and with a bit more transparency. It seems the top of wind energy could at least be broached by the paper’s authors If oil and gas exploration is part of a larger strategic mission that includes the development of clean energy resources.

But judging by the press release today that announced the report, you’d have no idea that the report dealt exclusively with oil and gas exploration and development. In fact, the word “oil” is not even mentioned until the eighth and final paragraph of the press release. To get a feel of the kind of linguistic evasiveness I’m talking about, this is what the beginning of the release looks like:

Report: Offshore Energy Development Could Create 6,700 Jobs and

Bring North Carolina up to $577 Million Annually

As state struggles to meet massive budget shortfall,

report confirms huge amounts of revenue exist safely offshore

Raleigh, N.C. – North Carolina could receive up to $577 million annually in revenue sharing payments from offshore energy development, according to a report to be released today by the Southeast Energy Alliance (SEA).

The report, which will be distributed prior to a panel discussion on North Carolina’s available offshore energy resources and the potential for federal revenue sharing, discusses job creation, economic growth and revenues that could come to the state if it chooses to participate in offshore energy development along the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) and if Congress extends a royalty revenue sharing program to the state…

I understand that the purpose of the paper was to tout the benefits of oil and gas development. That is fine. But if the report is about petroleum, say that in the press release. If old-school “energy” industry groups want to prove that they are serious about non-fossil energy sources, they have to do much more than muddy their own preferences in some veiled attempt to gain public support.

Image © Yobidab; NREL

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Tags: Energy, offshore oil, oil and gas

About the Author

Timothy B. Hurst is the founder of ecopolitology and the executive editor at LiveOAK Media, a media network about the politics of energy and the environment, green business, cleantech, and green living. When not reading, writing, thinking or talking about environmental politics with anyone who will listen, Tim spends his time skiing in Colorado's high country, hiking with his dog, and getting dirty in his vegetable garden.

jes

Don’t forget that even before the first hole is drilled off of our Atlantic coast, extensive exploration would need to be done. The last exploration done was in the 1980’s, and that was done using single streamer, low resolution 2D technology. All of those datasets are basically obsolete, and new surveys would have to be shot using the current 3D high res multi streamer technology. This would take time, and it would also mean lots of jobs, and money for the areas that the seismic crews were working. All of the estimates of the reserves recoverable off of our Atlantic coast are extrapolated from those old datasets. The new technology used to survey, as well as the current processsing technology, would no doubt show much more recoverable reserves.

And that is a good thing!
jes

Don’t forget that even before the first hole is drilled off of our Atlantic coast, extensive exploration would need to be done. The last exploration done was in the 1980’s, and that was done using single streamer, low resolution 2D technology. All of those datasets are basically obsolete, and new surveys would have to be shot using the current 3D high res multi streamer technology. This would take time, and it would also mean lots of jobs, and money for the areas that the seismic crews were working. All of the estimates of the reserves recoverable off of our Atlantic coast are extrapolated from those old datasets. The new technology used to survey, as well as the current processsing technology, would no doubt show much more recoverable reserves.

And that is a good thing!
jes

Don’t forget that even before the first hole is drilled off of our Atlantic coast, extensive exploration would need to be done. The last exploration done was in the 1980’s, and that was done using single streamer, low resolution 2D technology. All of those datasets are basically obsolete, and new surveys would have to be shot using the current 3D high res multi streamer technology. This would take time, and it would also mean lots of jobs, and money for the areas that the seismic crews were working. All of the estimates of the reserves recoverable off of our Atlantic coast are extrapolated from those old datasets. The new technology used to survey, as well as the current processsing technology, would no doubt show much more recoverable reserves.

And that is a good thing!
jes

Don’t forget that even before the first hole is drilled off of our Atlantic coast, extensive exploration would need to be done. The last exploration done was in the 1980’s, and that was done using single streamer, low resolution 2D technology. All of those datasets are basically obsolete, and new surveys would have to be shot using the current 3D high res multi streamer technology. This would take time, and it would also mean lots of jobs, and money for the areas that the seismic crews were working. All of the estimates of the reserves recoverable off of our Atlantic coast are extrapolated from those old datasets. The new technology used to survey, as well as the current processsing technology, would no doubt show much more recoverable reserves.

And that is a good thing!
jes

Don’t forget that even before the first hole is drilled off of our Atlantic coast, extensive exploration would need to be done. The last exploration done was in the 1980’s, and that was done using single streamer, low resolution 2D technology. All of those datasets are basically obsolete, and new surveys would have to be shot using the current 3D high res multi streamer technology. This would take time, and it would also mean lots of jobs, and money for the areas that the seismic crews were working. All of the estimates of the reserves recoverable off of our Atlantic coast are extrapolated from those old datasets. The new technology used to survey, as well as the current processsing technology, would no doubt show much more recoverable reserves.

And that is a good thing!
jes

@Toni:

Why is drilling off of the mid Atlantic coast, the so-called ‘graveyard of the atlantic’, any different than drilling off of the coast of Newfoundland, or any where in the North Sea, or in the Arctic Ocean, or in 3,000 meters of water in the Gulf of Mexico?

The engineering requirements for drilling and maintaining rigs in these places (and others I did not mention), far exceeds the engineering required to drill and maintain a facility off of our Atlantic coast.
jes

@Toni:

Why is drilling off of the mid Atlantic coast, the so-called ‘graveyard of the atlantic’, any different than drilling off of the coast of Newfoundland, or any where in the North Sea, or in the Arctic Ocean, or in 3,000 meters of water in the Gulf of Mexico?

The engineering requirements for drilling and maintaining rigs in these places (and others I did not mention), far exceeds the engineering required to drill and maintain a facility off of our Atlantic coast.
jes

@ Gray Berryman: How exactly will offshore development damage the tourist industry in NC? Has offshore energy development damaged the tourist industry in California? Has it damaged it in Texas? What exactly does it have to do with low density development?

I read this report, and there was no evasiveness. There was no doubt in my mind that the report dealt with oil and gas, even before I read the first word.

Development of our offshore oil and gas resources will go much further than any existing technology that exists to harvest wind or wave power, along with the fact that you cant pave the roads, make fertilizer, plastics, power cars and airplanes, construct buildings, or get your food to the cities with wind or wave power.
jes

@ Gray Berryman: How exactly will offshore development damage the tourist industry in NC? Has offshore energy development damaged the tourist industry in California? Has it damaged it in Texas? What exactly does it have to do with low density development?

I read this report, and there was no evasiveness. There was no doubt in my mind that the report dealt with oil and gas, even before I read the first word.

Development of our offshore oil and gas resources will go much further than any existing technology that exists to harvest wind or wave power, along with the fact that you cant pave the roads, make fertilizer, plastics, power cars and airplanes, construct buildings, or get your food to the cities with wind or wave power.
jes

@ Gray Berryman: How exactly will offshore development damage the tourist industry in NC? Has offshore energy development damaged the tourist industry in California? Has it damaged it in Texas? What exactly does it have to do with low density development?

I read this report, and there was no evasiveness. There was no doubt in my mind that the report dealt with oil and gas, even before I read the first word.

Development of our offshore oil and gas resources will go much further than any existing technology that exists to harvest wind or wave power, along with the fact that you cant pave the roads, make fertilizer, plastics, power cars and airplanes, construct buildings, or get your food to the cities with wind or wave power.
jes

@ Gray Berryman: How exactly will offshore development damage the tourist industry in NC? Has offshore energy development damaged the tourist industry in California? Has it damaged it in Texas? What exactly does it have to do with low density development?

I read this report, and there was no evasiveness. There was no doubt in my mind that the report dealt with oil and gas, even before I read the first word.

Development of our offshore oil and gas resources will go much further than any existing technology that exists to harvest wind or wave power, along with the fact that you cant pave the roads, make fertilizer, plastics, power cars and airplanes, construct buildings, or get your food to the cities with wind or wave power.
Offshore Jobs Expert

Developing renewable sources of energy needs time and commitment. Society should realize that this is the best alternative ever. It takes time.
Offshore Jobs Expert

Developing renewable sources of energy needs time and commitment. Society should realize that this is the best alternative ever. It takes time.
Offshore Jobs Expert

Developing renewable sources of energy needs time and commitment. Society should realize that this is the best alternative ever. It takes time.
Susan Kraemer

They routinely conflate dirty energy with energy, as if there can be no other kind.

I think its policy, kind of brainwashing. It works.

What we should do is do the same thing: always call renewable energy sources “energy”, and call fossil fuels the subset “fossil energy”
Susan Kraemer

They routinely conflate dirty energy with energy, as if there can be no other kind.

I think its policy, kind of brainwashing. It works.

What we should do is do the same thing: always call renewable energy sources “energy”, and call fossil fuels the subset “fossil energy”
Susan Kraemer

They routinely conflate dirty energy with energy, as if there can be no other kind.

I think its policy, kind of brainwashing. It works.

What we should do is do the same thing: always call renewable energy sources “energy”, and call fossil fuels the subset “fossil energy”
Toni

Why would anyone think offshore oil drilling in the famed “graveyard of the atlantic” is a good idea???
Toni

Why would anyone think offshore oil drilling in the famed “graveyard of the atlantic” is a good idea???
Toni

Why would anyone think offshore oil drilling in the famed “graveyard of the atlantic” is a good idea???
Gray Berryman

Off shore drilling for fossil fuels will permanently damage an outstanding tourist industry in NC based on clean beaches and low density residential developement.
Gray Berryman

Off shore drilling for fossil fuels will permanently damage an outstanding tourist industry in NC based on clean beaches and low density residential developement.