ROCKVILLE, MD (September 18, 2014) – A new study reveals for the first time both the economic benefits and environmental costs Maryland would incur from offshore oil and gas exploration, which could occur as early as 2018. The study comes just three months after the Obama Administration authorized seismic testing for oil and gas reserves along the Atlantic seaboard. A federal moratorium on offshore drilling in the Atlantic is set to expire in 2018.

The nonpartisan study estimates that Maryland would see a more than $700 million increase in gross state product (GSP) and the creation of more than 9,000 full-time jobs in the next two decades. Fiscally, this would generate as much as $38 million in state and local tax revenues and $126 million in oil & gas lease royalties over the same period.

The study also estimates the costs that Maryland would incur due to environmental impacts from air emissions and potential oil spills. Even in the most extreme case of environmental impact, Dr. Considine’s study finds that the economic benefits of offshore oil and gas development far outweigh the environmental costs incurred.

“Any effort to commence offshore energy exploration in the Atlantic should be done with full understanding of both the economic benefits and environmental costs,” said Christopher B. Summers, president of the Maryland Public Policy Institute, one of the study’s sponsors. “This review aims to inform Maryland citizens and policy makers as the expiration of the federal moratorium on offshore drilling approaches.”

The study was conducted by Timothy J. Considine, Distinguished Professor of Energy Economics at the University of Wyoming, for six nonpartisan research institutes located in states along the eastern seaboard.

The study assessed the economic benefits and environmental costs for six states: Maryland, Delaware, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia. Among those states, North Carolina stood to gain the most economic benefit, generating more than $24 billion in total economic output along with nearly $7 billion in environmental costs.

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