DATE: Wednesday, October 8, 1997            TAG: 9710080429

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B1   EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA 

SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS 

                                            LENGTH:   37 lines

BILL TAKES AIM AT N.C. OFFSHORE DRILLING

Two North Carolina congressional lawmakers have introduced a bill that would keep federal regulators from permitting offshore drilling along the North Carolina coast - a measure filed in response to Chevron USA's request to explore for oil and natural gas.

U.S. Rep. Walter Jones Jr. and Sen. Lauch Faircloth, both Republicans, filed the North Carolina Outer Banks Protection Act of 1997 Monday in their separate chambers, Jones' office said.

The bill would prohibit the federal government from permitting oil and gas leasing, exploration or development off the coast unless the activity was expressly permitted by the North Carolina state government.

Chevron paid the federal government about $40 million for the lease rights for land off North Carolina's coast.

The purpose of the measure is to ``add an additional layer of protection, leaving the final decision regarding offshore drilling to state officials,'' Jones' office said in a release.

Chevron told the state last month it wants to drill to look for oil and natural gas about 40 miles northeast of Hatteras. The energy giant would drill a single exploratory well at the edge of the continental shelf in the spring of 2000.

Gov. Jim Hunt has said state officials will scrutinize Chevron's request closely.

The bill is similar to legislation introduced by Jones' father, the late U.S. Rep. Walter Jones Sr. It was signed into law but repealed during the 104th Congress.

The elder Jones filed his bill at the time Mobil Oil asked the state for permission in 1990 to drill along the coast. When the state rejected the Mobil request, Mobil appealed the case to the federal courts.

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