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Charleston Post and Courier January 7, 2017 By Emma Dumain  WASHINGTON — South Carolina environmentalists were disappointed last month when President Barack Obama excluded the state’s coastline from protection against offshore drilling. These same activists are now cheering the Obama administration’s denial Friday of six permits to perform seismic airgun testing, all of which would have […]

The Virginia-Pilot December 20, 2016 By Dave Mayfield  President Barack Obama on Tuesday put the weight of his waning administration behind banning oil and gas drilling off parts of the East Coast, including Virginia. The question immediately became: What will Donald Trump do? Industry groups are counting on him to reverse Obama’s course soon after […]

Charleston Post and Courier December 20, 2016 By Emma Dumain WASHINGTON — National environmental groups are heaping praise on President Barack Obama for banning oil and gas drilling in huge swaths of the Arctic and Atlantic oceans. Some South Carolina environmentalists, however, are fuming. That’s because Obama’s executive order does not include protections for coastlines south […]

Charleston Post and Courier December 18, 2016 By Bo Petersen and Emma Dumain After a massive, decade-long, grassroots fight appeared to have stopped oil and natural gas drilling offshore, its proponents are waging a last-minute desperation campaign to keep the victory from being snatched out from under them. The Obama administration is expected to approve […]

Coastal Observer Pawleys Island, SC December 15, 2016 By Jason Lesley Coastal Observer Opponents of oil drilling in the Atlantic Ocean are hoping President Obama will sign a permanent ban before he leaves office in January. The environmental group Oceana says it could happen this week. “That’s the best of all possible news,” said Peg Howell of […]

The State November 23, 2016 By Patrick Whittle, Associated Press The controversy over drilling for oil in the Atlantic Ocean has been reignited by the election of Donald Trump, and environmentalists and coastal businesses say it could be the first major fault line that divides them from the new president. The Obama administration has moved […]

Coastal Review 11/17/2016 by Mark Hibbs MOREHEAD CITY — A group of business leaders representing interests up and down the East Coast, including chambers of commerce, restaurant associations, commercial fishing groups and real estate organizations, are urging President Obama to use a provision of federal law to try and permanently block seismic surveying for oil and […]

The Virginia-Pilot November 16, 2016 By Dave Mayfield  Facing a new president who has said he favors opening the East Coast to oil and gas exploration, some environmental groups are pressing President Barack Obama to declare the waters off Virginia and other Atlantic states permanently off-limits to drilling before he leaves office in January. “Let’s […]