An oil spill would be devastating. -Mary Baggett
A North Carolina environmental group has released a report detailing the potential risks of the Trump administration’s plans to open the nation’s coastlines to more oil and gas drilling. Environment North Carolina cites the dangers from spills during drilling, and also from pollution from the presence of additional infrastructure like ships, ports and pipelines.
The group unveiled the report Wednesday at the Blockade Runner Beach Resort at Wrightsville Beach. Mary Baggett, whose family has owned the resort for nearly 50 years, says the potential impacts to the state’s tourism-driven coastal economy are obvious, especially given that it’s so seasonal.
“We cannot afford to think that our customers would not immediately flee and go somewhere else. They would," says Baggett. "An oil spill would be devastating."
Environmental groups agree with Baggett, and ongoing lawsuits issued by a number of those groups have slowed the Trump administration’s drilling proposal.