Group Says Offshore Drilling in S.C. Too Profitable to Ignore

The benefits of drilling for oil off South Carolina's shores outweigh the potential environmental impacts by at least a 2-to-1 margin, according to a new report released Wednesday by the conservative nonprofit Palmetto Policy Forum.

The report quantifies the costs of potential oil spills, increased carbon emissions and environmental impacts and concludes that even with a high impact from drilling, the state would still benefit enough economically to outweigh the $6.4 billion estimated cost to the environment.

The state could see $15 billion in added value from the industry by 2035, according to the report authored by Timothy Considine, an economics professor at the University of Wyoming who specializes in research of the petroleum industry.

"Even under the high evaluation of environmental impacts, the economic benefits of oil and gas development significantly outpace the environmental costs," Considine said. "That's a fairly robust finding."

While the study quantifies emissions impacts and oil spill cleanup as environmental factors, it doesn't appear to address impact to coastal tourism, human and wildlife health and the long-term impacts to beaches or coastal wetlands, which could take decades to recover from major disasters, said Hamilton Davis, energy and climate director with the Coastal Conservation League.

The study focused on six states, from Delaware to Georgia, and the impacts of the industry on each state. South Carolina's economic benefits would rank second highest to North Carolina along the East Coast with the potential to create anywhere from 8,200 direct and indirect jobs on the low end to 45,700 jobs on the high end by 2035.

Since it would take some years to ramp up production, Considine called his 2025-2035 figures "the opening act" of an oil and gas industry along the Atlantic Coast.

"So we're really talking about the beginnings of an industry," he said.

U.S. Rep. Jeff Duncan, a staunch supporter of offshore drilling, said South Carolina could become a valuable player in the nation's energy independence and it would mean jobs for the state and revenue-sharing from oil profits.

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