THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, June 17, 1995 TAG: 9506170336
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY PAUL SOUTH, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Short : 45 lines
Rep. Walter B. Jones Jr., R-3rd, has joined a bipartisan effort to preserve a 14-year-old moratorium on offshore oil and gas drilling.
Some members of a congressional committee have threatened to remove the moratorium provision from the Department of the Interior's appropriations bill.
Jones also is supporting a measure that would make the moratorium permanent along the mid-Atlantic Outer Continental Shelf, which includes the North Carolina coast.
The bill, sponsored by Rep. Frank Pallone, R-N.J., would prohibit oil and gas exploration on 71 million acres offshore, stretching from Connecticut to the southern border of North Carolina.
``The risks associated with offshore oil and gas drilling are too great to justify any potential economic benefit,'' Jones said in a prepared statement. ``North Carolina's waters are too precious both economically and environmentally to subject them to the hazards of offshore oil and gas rigs.
``Our proposal is a bipartisan effort to preserve one of the most pristine and economically viable resources this country has to offer.''
Jones said offshore drilling would have a negative effect on North Carolina's $1.5 billion tourism industry, as well as the $30 million commercial fishing business.
Michael McOwen, a co-chairman of LegaSea, a grass-roots environmental organization formed to stop offshore drilling off the North Carolina coast, praised Jones for his efforts.
But he said the most pressing need is to keep the current 14-year-old moratorium intact.
``The Pallone bill will be very important in the long run,'' McOwen said. ``North Carolina needs protection from offshore drilling. Right now, it's important that we keep the present moratorium in place.'' ILLUSTRATION: Rep. Walter B. Jones Jr.
by CNB