US administration urged to stave off drilling in Carolinas’ outer shelf

Two U.S. governors, one from North Carolina and one from South Carolina, have sent a joint letter to the United States’ administration to remove the two states’ outer continental shelf lands from consideration in the upcoming 11th National Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) Oil and Gas Leasing Program.

As part of the public comment process required for the next oil and gas round to progress, Governors Josh Stein of North Carolina and Henry McMaster of South Carolina submitted a joint letter asking the Trump administration to maintain its moratorium on offshore drilling off the North and South Carolina coasts. 

Memoranda protecting these coasts from leasing disposition until June 30, 2032, were issued during President Trump’s last term, on September 8 and 25, 2020. 

“Because of the significant risks associated with offshore oil and gas exploration, development and production off the Carolina coasts, every North Carolina and South Carolina coastal municipality has passed a resolution opposing offshore drilling and seismic testing,” wrote Governors Stein and McMaster. 

“This position has been reaffirmed by other municipalities and counties, as well as state legislators and members of our Congressional delegations from both parties. We ask you to respect the wishes of our states and our coastal communities and reaffirm President Trump’s decision to protect our coastlines and the industries they support.”

As stated in the letter, North and South Carolina have a combined 513 miles of ocean beaches and 6,251 miles of coastline. In addition to being home to more than 2.7 million people and wildlife refuges, industries such as tourism and recreation, shipbuilding, fishing, and marine transportation industries are important for the area’s economy.

Since the two states’ coastal economy contributed $9.6 billion to the GDP in 2021, supported more than 125,000 jobs, and provided $3.8 billion in wages, the two governors believe that these industries would be “highly vulnerable” to disruption from offshore drilling. 

When the Trump Administration proposed offshore drilling in 2020, Stein, who was Attorney General at the time, strongly advocated to protect North Carolina’s coast.

The development of the 11th OCS Program, which entails 27 areas, is underway. The Department of the Interior announced in April that its Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) would soon launch the first step in a robust public engagement process to develop a proposed schedule for offshore oil and gas lease sales on the U.S. OCS.

This was followed by the BOEM launching a 45-day public comment period ending on June 16, 2025. This comment period serves as the initial step in a multi-year planning process for the oil and gas lease sale schedule. BOEM previously said it hopes to publish a proposed notice of sale in June.

The current 10th National OCS Program started on July 1, 2024, and continues through June 30, 2029. It includes three lease sales over five years, with one sale each in 2025, 2027, and 2029.