Republican gubernatorial candidate Pat McCrory announced his support Monday for oil and natural gas drilling off the North Carolina coast, saying it could help relieve what's becoming a national energy crisis. McCrory said it's hypocritical for politicians to take a not-in-my-backyard approach to oil exploration and drilling, especially because North Carolina's energy demands are bound to grow with its population. "If not here, then where?" McCrory said. "If we're not willing to drill off our own coast, then where will you drill? Off Venezuela? Off Nigeria? Off Saudi Arabia? Russia?" McCrory said the move would help make the state less dependent on foreign oil while creating jobs and generating revenue. Money generated by oil could fund road construction costs, mass transit systems and teacher salaries, he said.

President Bush has called on Congress to lift decades-old federal bans on offshore drilling along the Atlantic Coast, which he said could yield as many as 18 billion barrels of oil. Lifting that moratorium would let states decide whether to allow drilling off their shores. But the federal government has said tapping that area wouldn't significantly affect production or prices until 2030. The president's call has been backed by Republican presidential candidate John McCain. But most Democrats in Congress and McCrory's Democratic opponent, Lt. Gov. Beverly Perdue, oppose the plan. Perdue questioned whether coastal drilling would be safe and effective, noting the threat of hurricanes. "I haven't seen anything that proves to me that drilling there can be done safely or bring down oil prices," Perdue said in a statement. "Until that day comes, our focus must remain on finding greener forms of energy and increasing conservation efforts." But McCrory said renewable and alternative energy projects must be coupled with production efforts. "We need to take advantage of what our natural resources are," McCrory said. (Whitney Woodward, THE ASSOCIATED PRESS, 6/3/08).