WASHINGTON _ South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster will call on President Donald Trump to exempt the state from the administration's proposal to expand offshore oil and gas drilling.
McMaster shared his intention to take "appropriate steps" to engage the administration on the issue less than 24 hours after Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke offered an exemption for Florida following aggressive lobbying by fellow Republican Gov. Rick Scott.
"We cannot afford to take a chance with the beauty, the majesty and the economic value and vitality of our wonderful coastline in South Carolina," McMaster told reporters in Columbia, S.C., on Wednesday morning. "I will be taking appropriate steps, and there will be more news later.
"Our tourism industry and our glorious natural resources, particularly in the Lowcountry, are beyond compare in the United States," McMaster continued. "They are the source of enormous economic growth and prosperity, and we cannot take a chance with those resources, those industries and that economy. It is just too important. This is a matter of serious importance to us in South Carolina, and again, I oppose the drilling, I oppose the testing."
The administration announced last week that between 2019 and 2024, it would make more than 90 percent of the nation's Outer Continental Shelf acreage available for oil and gas drilling. The new plan's 47 potential lease sales would be the largest amount ever proposed in a five-year schedule, Zinke boasted at the time.
McMaster was somewhat slow to respond to the news, unlike Scott, who immediately called for reprieve. Though McMaster has long been on the record opposing offshore drilling, he faces a delicate political dynamic in South Carolina.
Voters in the Lowcountry don't want to open their coastal communities to practices they fear could negatively impact the environment and disrupt tourism communities.
Voters in the more conservative Upstate who don't have the same geographic concerns want South Carolina to be a part of a larger push towards U.S. energy independence. McMaster will have to appeal to both of these constituencies as early as the June 12 gubernatorial primary.
McMaster's list of asks of the Trump administration are also starting to pile up. The governor, who endorsed Trump ahead of the state's pivotal 2016 presidential primary, continues to have strong ties to the president, which he has used to secure an extension for complying with the federal "REAL ID" requirement and more money to fund the Charleston Harbor deepening project.
McMaster is now looking to deter Trump from slapping tariffs on two major business interests in South Carolina, with the president facing deadlines to decide in the days ahead.
On the one hand, the governor can't afford to alienate the president. But Florida's Scott helped set a precedent that other coastal governors can't ignore.
"Secretary Zinke has stirred up a hornet's nest," said South Carolina's Frank Knapp, president and CEO of the Business Alliance for Protecting the Atlantic Coast. "What Zinke did yesterday was give every governor a blueprint to follow on how to approach the Department of the Interior to get their state out of the five-year plan."
Though McMaster said he would make his plans known in the days ahead, it remains to be seen whether he will have the same clout as Scott, who national Republicans likely wanted to deliver a "win" as he mulls challenging incumbent Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson for his seat later this year.
