'Fingers crossed' for strong turnout against offshore drilling at last-minute North Carolina hearings

Southeast Energy News: Starting tonight in Wilmington, Gov. Roy Cooper’s administration is hosting three public hearings this week on President Trump’s tentative plans to allow drilling off the North Carolina coast.

Announced with just six days’ notice, the meetings are unusual — neither of the past two administrations in North Carolina held similar sessions the last time the Atlantic Ocean was a candidate for oil and gas leasing.

And since Cooper, a Democrat, already declared last month he would fight Trump’s push for oil exploration and offshore drilling, the events could backfire if coastal residents show up in droves with an opposite view.

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