North Carolina AG Filed Lawsuit to Defend State’s Authority to Prevent Offshore Seismic Surveying

AUGUST 26, 2020

North Carolina Attorney General Josh Stein filed a lawsuit challenging the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) override of North Carolina’s objections under the Coastal Zone Management Act (CZMA) to seismic surveying off the state’s coast. The complaint emphasized that NOAA failed to substantiate its claim that the proposed seismic surveying would “further[] the national interest ... in a significant or substantial manner,” which is the threshold for overriding a state’s objection under the CZMA. The complaint also noted that seismic surveying could adversely affect a range of North Carolina’s interests, including “commercial and recreational fishing, tourism, research and endangered species,” especially given that “noise from airguns can affect marine life while species are in state waters even if the airguns never enter state waters.”