The North Carolina Senate voted to go against the wishes of Democratic Gov. Bev Perdue, overriding her veto of an energy bill that would open the door to offshore natural gas drilling.

The Republican-controlled Senate voted 31-17 to override Perdue’s veto of S709, also known as the Energy Jobs Act. Supporters of the bill had just enough votes to clear the three-fifths (60%) threshold needed for a successful override.

“I think it’s great,” Sen. Tommy Tucker (R-Waxhaw), one of S709’s sponsors, told NGI about last Wednesday’s override vote. “This puts North Carolina on track to utilize the natural gas resources that we have in this country. We’ll be able to move forward on the energy issues that we have in this country and not be held hostage by the Middle East.”

To become law, S709 must now pass the state House of Representatives, which is also controlled by Republicans, by a three-fifths vote. The bill was ratified by the House on June 18, 69-42. If a similar vote total occurs the override will be successful.

A member of the House clerk’s office told NGI that the bill will not come to a floor vote until July 25 at the earliest, when its members return for a full session.

Perdue vetoed S709 on June 30, declaring it unconstitutional because it called for her to enter into an offshore energy compact with neighboring Virginia and South Carolina (see NGI, July 11). She said that order infringed on the powers assigned to the governor.

In a letter to General Assembly leaders the day before the vote, Perdue repeated her stance on the bill and urged them to resist overriding her veto.

“North Carolina’s interests do not necessarily align with those of Virginia and South Carolina,” Perdue said. “While Governor McDonnell, Governor Haley and I could likely agree that a certain percentage of royalties should be paid to the states, beyond that our interests diverge.”

On the same day Perdue had vetoed S709, she issued two executive orders creating an offshore wind task force and a scientific advisory panel on energy. The governor said her measures were designed to prepare the Tar Heel State for “any eventual federal authorization” for offshore oil or gas production.

The federal government estimates that nearly 30 Tcf of natural gas lies off the coast of North and South Carolina and Virginia. Active offshore leases in North Carolina — which comprise two individual lease blocks, each about nine square nautical miles in size — reportedly contain about 5 Tcf of economically recoverable natural gas.

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