Off shore drilling

Currently, North Carolina Shores are protected from off shore drilling by a Federal Moratorium:

The waters became fully protected by the moratorium in the fall of 2000 when Conoco gave up the last of the leases for exploration in the Manteo Exploration Unit, a group of federally leased blocks of submerged land lying about 45 miles off Cape Hatteras. Conoco had owned five leases for the submerged lands in the unit, and shared three others with Shell and Occidental Petroleum Corp. Chevron, Mobil and Marathon gave up or sold their leases earlier in 2000. None of the companies ever undertook exploration in the area.
http://dcm2.enr.state.nc.us/Facts/offshore.htm