The next hot spot for drilling could be the N.C. coast

Source: Independent Weekly



*Chocolate syrup masquerading as oil

N.C. is central to MMS's proposed five-year leasing plan

There is a place in the sea 45 miles northeast of Cape Hatteras brimming with so much life that at depths beyond the sunlight's reach the water is illuminated by colorful ocean creatures and fish.

Known as the Point, it is one of the most valuable and biodiverse areas of the Atlantic. Here, the cold northern Labrador Current meets the warm southern Gulf Stream and the mingling creates a parfait of marine life: swordfish, sharks, endangered sea turtles and large, iconic sea mammals such as dolphins and whales. Rare sea birds dive in the water for food.

The Point is also valuable because of what has died there. Over millions of years, plants and sea creatures perished. They were buried beneath layers of sediment and rock, which acted like a pressure cooker and eventually created deposits of oil and gas.

North Carolina's coastline—the second largest on the Eastern Seaboard—contributes to the state's economic and environmental wealth. But its trove of resources, including potential oil and gas deposits located offshore, also leave North Carolina vulnerable.

Read more: http://www.indyweek.com/gyrobase/the-next-hot-spot-for-drilling-could-be-the-nc-coast/Content?oid=1507134&showFullText=true

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This is a disaster waiting to happen. :-(

Mods: The first sentence is a subtitle.

Recent mapping conducted by the USGS off North Carolina and South Carolina shows large accumulations of methane hydrates.

A pair of relatively small areas, each about the size of the State of Rhode Island, shows intense concentrations of gas hydrates. USGS scientists estimate that these areas contain more than 1,300 trillion cubic feet of methane gas, an amount representing more than 70 times the 1989 gas consumption of the United States. Some of the gas was formed by bacteria in the sediments, but some may be derived from deep strata of the Carolina Trough. The Carolina Trough is a significant offshore oil and gas frontier area where no wells have been drilled. It is a very large basin, about the size of the State of South Carolina, that has accumulated a great thickness of sediment, perhaps more than 13 kilometers. Salt diapirs, reefs, and faults, in addition to hydrate gas, may provide greater potential for conventional oil and gas traps than is present in other east coast basins.

http://marine.usgs.gov/fact-sheets/gas-hydrates/title.html

The main risk apparently was the posibility of destabilizing the continental shelf.

btw - some of us have used this link before : its not new. The problem is that the world and its lobster are digging up anything they can possibly find on the subject oil and methane to make a living in newpapers and periodicals.

Never.

There are pluses and minuses concerning the mining of these hydrates.

http://marine.usgs.gov/fact-sheets/gas-hydrates/title.html

We need to put a stop to all new off shore drilling. What we need is clean re-newable energy, and we need it today.

We would not appreciate the Outer Banks, a national treasure, being destroyed by another fuck up by the oil industry.

It just makes me want to cry.

Yes it will be a painful process, but one that MUST be taken. We need to shift our efforts into clean, renewable sources of energy. I understand that tens of thousands of people in the oil industry would lose their jobs. However, we still need energy, and I'm sure that there would be tens of thousands of NEW jobs created as we shift into clean technology.

All are out there...and need our support to fight this.

After what we've seen on the Gulf Coast it would seem to be impossible that even the farthest RW in NC would stand for this TRAVESTY!

But, then...it depends on what we Dem Leaners DO to STOP THEM...doesn't it.

If we NC'Linians can't mount an attack against the OIL INTERESTS and Bev Purdue supports them then we've got a BIG PROBLEM.

I'm betting on all of us STOPPING THIS RIGHT NOW! :grr:

A Democratic President has NO business sanctioning this. It's what you would expect from Republicans.
:mad:

Same goes for any governor who calls him/herself a Democrat.

Worry about our coastlines being destroyed by Big Oil.

Have never been to Carolina beaches, but spent every other summer of childhood on VA beaches.

It is such a shame to think of what our best and most beautiful places have to go through.

And what we activists have to do to continue to fight off the real "Evil Doers"

Oil spills from coast to coast.

I thought Gov. Purdue was supposed to be putting a stop for plans to Drill Baby Drill off our coast?

http://projects.newsobserver.com/under_the_dome/perdue_opposes_offshore_drilling



Hmmm.......but she was "wavering" in 2008 after being "opposed".

http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2008/08/14/126517/perdue-shifting-on-offshore-drilling.html



We're gonna have to keep a close eye on Bev so she won't be doing any flip-flopping!!

if drilling leases go forward.

doing...but it's House and Senate that seem to RUN HIM!

So we've gotta be strong here fighting at home rather than relying on Obama. I think NC is a good state given the RED ZONE it resides in.

We need to RAISE A RUCKUS about this! HERE AT HOME...so that Obama HEARS IT...IMHO....