U.S. INTERIOR DEPARTMENT

 

On Jan. 4, the U.S. Department of Interior announced plans to open waters off of North Carolina and other Atlantic Coast states to offshore oil and gas exploration and development.
Currently, the state is under a 60-day public comment period on the Draft Proposed Program. The comment period ends March 9. After the 60-day comment period, there will be a 90-day public comment period on the proposed program and draft programmatic environmental impact statement.
Finally, there will be a 60-day period for the president and Congress to review and approve the final program and draft a decision.

Hyde County hosted a public comment meeting with the Secretary of the N.C. Department of Environmental Quality on Feb. 20. The county will hold another public comment meeting at 5 p.m. Monday before the regular Board of Commissioners meeting. This meeting will be conducted at the Hyde County Government Center and the Ocracoke Community Center. Citizens can also submit comments online or via mail/hand deliver to the Bureau of Ocean Management.