Offshore drilling a deflection in Beaufort

It seems like quite a coincidence that whenever the city of Beaufort is questioned over poor planning decisions that the mayor tries to employ deflection.

Take the $33.5 million of taxpayer money spent on the Boundary Street Project and now the horrendous traffic situation created on Lady’s Island from lack of planning. The mayor tries to deflect the city errors by bringing up seismic testing off our coast.

Let’s appeal to the conservationist, of whom there are plenty, and which is good. Don’t fall for this ploy.

Years ago, the major oil companies through satellite imagery determined the shelf off this area of South Carolina was not conducive to oil production. Retired engineers, who have taken oil from waters all over the world for major oil companies, confirm this.

So don’t get distracted from the problems at hand by concern over drilling off our coast. If it will not produce profits, and it won’t, the oil companies will not waste their money. City and county government cannot be left to run as in the past. Better planning is necessary, and I can assure you this letter is not deflection.

This story was originally published May 17, 2017 at 1:22 PM with the headline "Offshore drilling a deflection in Beaufort."