Beach economy stakeholders concerned with offshore drilling

It’s been six months since U.S. Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke said the majority of federal waters could be open to offshore oil and gas exploration if a revised National Outer Continental Shelf Oil and Gas Leasing Program is accepted.

During a May 31 roundtable at Lupo Italian Kitchen in Rehoboth, with Gov. John Carney and U.S. Deputy Secretary of the Interior David Bernhardt sitting at the head, beach economy stakeholders from Lewes to Fenwick Island voiced their strong opposition to the lease’s revision. The five-year leasing program runs from 2019-24.

One by one, the 10 people each listed off how their livelihoods and communities would be destroyed if an oil spill were to take place anywhere near Delaware’s beaches.

Lewes Mayor Ted Becker said Lewes has always had a water-based economy. There’s not as much commercial fishing as there used to be, he said, but now it’s tourism that’s based on being able to use some of the cleanest beaches in the world.

Scott Kammerer, SoDel Concepts president, said his company is 100 percent driven by tourism. The company has 1,200 employees and serves 50,000 customers a week, he said.

For the better part of a decade, Linda Parkowski has been selling Delaware to people beyond its borders. She is currently the acting director of the Division of Small Business, Development & Tourism, and she used to be the director of the Delaware Tourism Office.

Parkowski said the state began investing in tourism in 2008, which has grown from a $1.4 billion economy then to a $3.3 billion economy now. She said the beaches are the No. 1 activity visitors participate in when they come to Delaware.

“Overall, the whole economy is pretty dependent on tourism,” she said.

Anne Harper, Delaware Nature Center executive director, said Bernhardt was visiting during a time of year that attracted people from across the world who wanted to see mating horseshoe crabs and the millions of birds, such as red knots, that stop during migration to eat the horseshoe crab eggs.

“Any outdoor opportunity advantages Delaware has would go away with an oil spill,” Harper said.

Jeff Hamer, owner of Fins Hospitality Group, said he was a supporter of President Donald Trump, and understood the need for oil independence, but, he said, this was a project that he could not support. There isn’t much industry fabrication anymore, and state government is the largest employer in the state, he said, pointing to the limited employment options for Delawareans outside of jobs that don’t deal with the tourism industry.

Another supporter of the president, Kevin Denison, owns and operates 3 Amigos Sport Fishing and Charters out of Indian River Marina. He said he had mixed emotions because oil rig structures are good for fishing, but he said he also realized anything close to a catastrophic spill would also hurt his business.

“Fishing is my life. There’s a lot of cons that need to be addressed, and it would shortsighted and naive to support something that could shut my industry down,” Denison said. “I’m the guy who is going to be out there daily seeing this stuff.”

At the conclusion of hearing stakeholder comments, Carney summarized the message by saying a lot of the attraction to come to Delaware is the beach, ocean and outdoor activities. There’s not a great amount of potential in our area of the ocean, said Carney, referencing the limited amount of oil predicted to be off the state’s coast.

After listening to the Delawareans express their concern, Bernhardt said the oil and gas industry had not expressed interest in a lot of the areas of consideration, which, he said, will be a factor.

Bernhardt said he expected Zinke to make a decision on availability this fall, and he encouraged all Delawareans to continue to voice their opinions.

“You’ve laid your marker, but don’t stop,” he said. “Public comment is important.”