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Town of Carrboro - Pelican Award Winner
PURPOSE: The purpose of this item is to recognize the Town of Carrboro as a NC Coastal Federation Pelican Award Winner. Alderman Haven-O'Donnell will present the award to the Board of Aldermen.
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DEPARTMENT: Board of Aldermen
CONTACT INFORMATION:
INFORMATION: The North Carolina Coastal Federation awarded 31 local governments Pelican Awards for passing resolutions against offshore oil and/or seismic surveys, which involve the use of sonic waves to search for oil and gas beneath the ocean floor.
The Carrboro Board of Aldermen was recognized for the unanimous passing of a Resolution in Opposition to Offshore Exploration and Production of Petroleum Resources on the Continental Shelf off the Coast of North Carolina.
In January 2015, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management released its Draft Proposed Program for 2017-2022 for offshore oil drilling in waters off the U.S. coasts. For the first time in 30 years, North Carolina's offshore waters were potentially open to offshore oil and gas development.
Just a little more than one year later, in March 2016, BOEM announced it removed the North Carolina coast from consideration for offshore oil drilling.
In its announcement, BOEM cited local resistance as one of the reasons it decided to remove the North Carolina coast from consideration. By passing the resolutions, the 31 local governments helped galvanize public interest in the issue and ultimately played a huge part in protecting the coast and preventing a potential disaster similar to the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill, which would ruin beaches, kill fish and harm coastal economies.
Alderman Haven-O'Donnell accepted the North Carolina Coastal Federation Pelican Award on behalf of the Town of Carrboro. She stated that, "Carrboro is distinguished as one of the only inland municipalities among the thirty-one local governments exercising leadership in protecting our coast from offshore drilling. The ...
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