“Nor can we take for granted our precious natural resources which define and sustain us, from the mountains to the sea.

South Carolina’s beaches, sea islands and marshes are the most beautiful in the nation, bringing 29 million people to South Carolina every year and supporting a $20 billion tourism industry.

From Little River and Myrtle Beach, to Georgetown and Charleston, to Hilton Head and Beaufort and Daufuskie Island, our economy and culture depend on a living, pristine coastline. Every municipality along our coast has voted to oppose drilling and seismic testing. They are right.

With offshore drilling comes the construction of onshore infrastructure – refineries, gas storage tanks, maintenance and operating facilities, trucks and traffic. We have no place to put it. It is incompatible with everything we have and do on our coast.  

Oil spills, like hurricanes, can disrupt and damage a state’s economy. We cannot stop hurricanes, but we can avoid oil spills. We cannot take a chance. We must do whatever it takes to preserve this economic paradise we call “the beach, the marsh, the coast and the lowcountry.” It is made of gold.”

                                                                                                      Henry McMaster
                                                                                                      Governor of South Carolina
                                                                                                      State of the State
                                                                                                      January 24, 2018