South Carolina Isn't Happy with Trump's Atlantic Oil Search

Coastal Republicans join Democrats to oppose offshore permits
Industry wants seismic surveys to analyze region’s potential

A North Atlantic right whale off the coast of Massachusetts.
Photographer: David L. Ryan/The Boston Globe via Getty Images

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By Carlyann Edwards

February 21, 2019 at 9:00 AM UTC

This article is for subscribers only.

More than half the registered voters in Republican-controlled South Carolina supported Donald Trump in a poll last month, but there’s at least one area where state leaders are ditching the president to join rival Democrats: a fight against oil exploration off the Atlantic coast.

While no new drilling has been approved in U.S. Atlantic waters, the Interior Department said in 2014 the region may contain 90 billion barrels of oil and 300 trillion cubic feet of gas. The Trump administration, eager to promote new sources of domestic energy, cleared the way in November for an essential first step to future drilling: geologic surveys using sound waves to pinpoint potential oil deposits. Permits could be issued as soon as next month.