Offshore Energy Panel's Recommendations Near

A state panel is close to finishing a report for the governor on whether oil and natural gas drilling should be permitted off the North Carolina coast. The governor established the Scientific Advisory Panel on Offshore Energy nearly two years ago. Attorney Willis Whichard chairs the panel.

Willis Whichard: "The idea is not for us to solve the policy or political problems regarding these difficult and contentious issues, but to give her and other policymakers the information they need to process and come to decisions."
Whichard says the report will serve as a compilation of the pros and cons of oil and natural gas drilling, as well as wind turbines and wind farms off the coast. The final report is due on the governor's desk in about three weeks.