My mother often told us that we had salt water in our blood. Like my father, paternal grandparents, and great grandparents before me, I’ve always lived near the oean. When I’m away from the coast, my skin scabs and my nose dries out. While I find the desert and mountains beautiful, I cannot tolerate the arid climate. I can smell the salt in the air two hours away from approaching the coast. Weather permitting, I swim and/or body surf every other day at one of the many pristine beaches that surround us here in “the low country.” These are just some of the reasons why I have always adamantly opposed offshore drilling, but there are many other reasons that are way more important than me and my family’s personal preferences for seaside living. Our 60 mile stretch of coastline here in South Carolina, primarily centered around Myrtle Beach, is the driver of the most important industry in this area – tourism. It is also the source of our healthy and beautiful natural resources, including sea life, wildlife, fauna, and flora, many of which are threatened or endangered. We are even home to one of the rarest plants in the world, the Venus Flytrap, which only exists in the Lewis Ocean Bays Heritage Preserve, straddling both Carolinas. Our coastline fuels industries as diverse as shipping, construction, wholesales, and retails, and has made South Carolina one of the top destinations for both visitors and new residents. “The area supports numerous businesses, including hospitality, construction, and finance, and its tourism revenue contributes to local schools, infrastructures, and coastal preservation” (Visit Myrtle Beach, 5/10/25). In 2023 alone, sports tourism produced $174,000,000.00 in “general spending” in the Myrtle Beach area, and 176 million visitors spent $12.5 billion in the same area. The total economic impact of our ocean is estimated at over $26 billion dollars (Myrtle Beach Industry). In this piece, I would like to explain why opening our water to offshore drilling would decimate our industry/ies, economies, and this beautiful place that we call home.
President Donald Trump has been crystal clear about his support for offshore drilling, unlike what our water may look like if his support spawns action. During his 2024 presidential campaign Mr. Trump swore that “We will frack, frack, and drill baby, drill! I will cut your energy prices in half within 12 months!” (10/28/24). As promised, on April 18, 2025, Reuters reported that the “Trump Administration Kicks Off Plan for Expanded Offshore Drilling…[The] Administration will begin taking public input for a new five year offshore oil and gas leasing system that could include new zones…he has repealed Biden’s efforts to block oil drilling in the Arctic and along large areas off the U.S. and Pacific Coasts.” This rhetoric is not only dangerous, but it is also untrue. As Lori Robertson with Fact Check observes (2025), “economists and energy experts say that increasing the supply of oil and natural gas could bring down prices in the short term if demand remains the same, but there are several complicating factors to Trump’s plan. The price of oil is set on the global market, subject to global supply and demand and world events. Experts don’t see a way for energy prices to be cut by 50%.”
There are only a handful of countries world-wide that ban offshore drilling. The results have been ecologically beneficial. Belize, Denmark, France, Greenland, Ireland, and Spain have all outlawed offshore drilling. Experts agree that Belize’s termination of offshore drilling “offered new hope for Belize’s Barrier Reef” (World Wildlife Fund, EuroNews, 5/10/25). Since 2016, Canada has worked to ban offshore drilling, with a complete ban pending. On June 3, 2025, via ABC 15 7:00 news, our own Jenny Gray, Chief Advocacy Officer for the Myrtle Beach Chamber of Commerce, issued a statement proclaiming our Chamber of Commerce’s “opposition to offshore drilling for the purpose of oil and gas extractions along our coastline,” citing the danger(s) of “catastrophic oil spills destroying our wildlife and tourism industry.”
Ms. Gray is spot on. There’s are multiple reasons why ALL offshore drilling should be prohibited globally. According to the Chesapeake Bay Foundation (2025), “Normal offshore drilling operations release toxic pollution into the air and water. Exploration and drilling at the platform, transportation via tankers, and refining the oil on land can all release volatile organic compounds, greenhouse gasses, and other air pollutants.” They go on to point out that air pollution is not the only danger, but chemical contamination, climate change, and dead zones are also spurred on by offshore drilling. Jeffrey Sachs, an economist and the Director of the Earth Institute at Columbia University, asserts that “a degraded environment has dramatic and harmful effects on health, education, gender quality and economic development.” (N.D.)
We have already experienced the terrifying effects of offshore drilling. South Carolina Emergency Management Department (SCEMD) argues that Hurricane Florence, one of the most destructive hurricanes we have experienced in this area, was exacerbated by the effects of climate change (5/10/2025). In 2018 as a Category 4 major hurricane, Florence broke the South Carolina record for the most rainfall from a tropical system, totaling 23.63 inches in Loris, South Carolina, just to our north. More than 15 inches of rainfall was recorded in Chesterfield, Dillon, Georgetown, Horry, Marion, & Marlboro Counties. Wind gusts as high as 60 miles per hour were documented in Florence, Horry, and Marion counties. The Grand Strand was completely isolated for more than 6 weeks after our bridges flooded and/or failed, becoming impassible. Many of you may have also survived Florence and/or other storms and hurricanes. But as a survivor of multiple record-breaking hurricanes, including Camille in 1969 and Agnes in 1972 in Southeastern Virginia, and dozens of Florida hurricanes including the costliest hurricane in history, Andrew, I can assure you that the fewer the hurricanes each season the better for us all. After Andrew in South Florida, we had neither water nor electrical service for four weeks, and months later, when I finally drove through the areas hardest hit, there was not a structure standing. All of the trees were ripped bare – pointed sticks just standing there, as if in Eliot’s Wasteland, “A heap of broken images…and the dead tree gives no shelter…”
History has proven that the results of a catastrophic oil spill are devastating. In 2011, Platforms B and C in the Penglai 19-3 Oil Field in the Bohai Sea off the east coast of China malfunctioned. 7% of the Bohai Sea was polluted. It resulted not only in widespread damage, but it also spurred the passage of one of the first significant laws providing liability for marine ecological damage . China’s revised Civil Code of 2021 provided that anyone who pollutes the environment or ecosystem should be held accountable. “They must compensate the loss and minimize the damage, regardless of whether the causes of the damage were intentional or not.” It goes on to hold that “anyone who pollutes the eco system is liable for environmental restoration. If the polluter refuses or fails to perform his duties, the authorities in charge of the environment will be empowered by law to take over the duty of recovery and can then claim reimbursement from the polluter” (State Oceanic Administration of People’s Republic of China aka SCNOOC, 9/4/2011).
What can you do to help save our ocean? Write, call, and/or email your elected representatives. Urge them to introduce, support, and vote for bills providing for ecological preservation and increased funding mechanisms for the same. Urge them to vote NO! for any offshore oil drilling. Visit their websites to publicly urge them to support legislation that bans, limits and/or regulates development, including wetlands, farmlands, waterways, and fresh and saltwater coastline(s). Visit, volunteer and/or donate time funds to local, state, regional, and national parks, including our local Myrtle Beach State Park, Huntington Beach State Park, and others. Become involved with, and/or donate to organizations that work together to raise awareness and funding. I cite many of them in this article, such as the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, the World Wildlife Fund and the Earth Institute. An international non-profit, The NRDC (National Resources Defense Council) works to protect the environment, public health, and wildlife and natural systems. Using science, policy, law, and “people power,” their slogan is “We Stand for Climate Action.” I stand for climate action. Do you?
