BOLIVIA — Dozens of opponents to seismic testing and coastal oil drilling converged outside Brunswick County’s David R. Sandifer Administration Building before the Feb. 19 county commissioners’ meeting.

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While they protested under a covered walkway to avoid the Monday evening rain, a handful of testing and drilling supporters were the first to sign up to speak during the public comment section of the meeting.

If January’s public comments were stacked with coastal drilling opponents, Monday’s speakers were an even mix of residents on either side of the issue.

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Pam Sabalos of Riverbend Drive in Shallotte Point said she was disturbed by claims that people who spoke against the county’s resolution of support for offshore drilling in January were not residents of Brunswick County. So she brought a sign-in sheet including the names and addresses of 80 residents who attended the Feb. 19 meeting. “Eighty Brunswick County residents who are here because we care about our coast,” she said.

Mel Foels of Cloverfield Court in Leland had a different take on drilling opponents. “It seems as though there was a variety of so-called environmentalists here (in January) to pressure you into backing a resolution banning offshore drilling,” Foels said. “This is nothing more than political extortion.”

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“I am here to let the Brunswick County commissioners know that I, along with many others that are not here today, support seismic testing,” said Colleen Combs of Shipmast Way in Southport. “If seismic testing finds oil or natural gas, I support offshore drilling. If there are no oil or natural gas resources, there would be no drilling. If seismic testing determines there are oil or natural gas resources off the North Carolina coast, in my opinion, we should develop those resources.”

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Ginny Quaglia of Spencer Place in Ocean Isle Beach said she was disappointed in Republican commissioners Frank Williams, Mike Forte and Randy Thompson for taking action to “rescind or neutralize our county’s support for offshore exploration.I hope no further damage will be done in the form of a resolution in opposition to exploration. Denying the opportunity to acquire basic knowledge of our God-given resources for future societal needs is just willful ignorance in my opinion,” said Quaglia, who is involved in commissioner Pat Sykes’ campaign for the state House seat held by Frank Iler of Oak Island in November’s general election.

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Pete Key of East Yacht Drive in Oak Island said since facts didn’t sway the opinions of commissioners he quoted Genesis 9, 1-3: “When Noah steps off the boat, what is the first thing God tells him? ‘I have given you dominion over all the Earth. Over all the animals. And I have given you dominion over the green things of the ground. Take care of them,’” Key said. “Drilling for oil and natural gas is not that route.”

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Greg Weiss of North Shore Drive in Sunset Beach, who spoke as a member of the Brunswick Environmental Action Team, said, “Part of the mission of BEAT is to assist our county and communities in developing sound and pragmatic environmental policies. We can be environmentally responsible and pragmatic by acknowledging that the future is with renewable energy,” he said.

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Dale Todd of North Sleepy Oak Lane in Leland asked commissioners to consider the costs to benefits. “There a potential benefit (to coastal oil drilling). It could be small. It could be big. But it is decades out there. “The cost is the risk that occurs if anything goes wrong — minor things, big things, whatever — to the wetlands and the coast, fishing, tourism, property values,” Todd said. “I hope you do your research. But I hope you come to the conclusion that I have and oppose offshore drilling.”

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Tim Page, executive director of the Consumer Energy Alliance, said the “CEA Southeast chapter strongly urges the commission to refrain from adopting a resolution opposing potential exploration and development of offshore energy. In addition to needlessly making it more difficult for North Carolinians to access affordable energy, shutting the door on opportunities to better understand the extent of our offshore energy resource through new studies and to access those resources in the future would prematurely foreclose up to tens of thousands of living-wage jobs and billions of dollars in economic activity and revenue that North Carolinians desperately want and need,” Page said.

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Commissioners were expected to decide at the meeting whether to formally rescind their support for seismic testing and offshore oil drilling off the Atlantic coast. On Jan. 16, they reversed a July 6, 2015, county resolution that endorsed state and federal government steps to allow for offshore oil and natural gas development along the Atlantic coast. Thompson, Forte and Williams outvoted Sykes and Marty Cooke to take a neutral position while they review the latest information on the impact of seismic testing and offshore drilling. Thompson made a motion during that meeting asking for 30 days to review the issue and then take up the discussion again at Monday’s meeting.

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After the public comments period ended Monday night, it didn’t appear the commissioners would discuss the issue. An oil drilling resolution was not an item on the meeting agenda. But Thompson brought it up as the last discussion item of the meeting. He requested staff add a resolution discussion to the March 19 meeting agenda. “Earlier today I shared with the county manager (Ann Hardy) a resolution to oppose offshore drilling and seismic testing,” he said. “I’d like the staff including the county attorney (Bob Shaver) to review that resolution and bring it back to us for consideration at our next meeting in March. “I just wanted to share that with everybody so staff would have an opportunity to get the resolution back to us, after review, so we could have ample time to study it and respond to it at our next meeting.” Thompson and Hardy clarified the resolution would be on the agenda of the second county board meeting of the month.

“I guess that’s something that one commissioner can put on the agenda. I know there are some folks on this board who would prefer that it not be, who said it wasn’t appropriate procedure. I guess we put it on the agenda and then decide if we take it off at that meeting?” Williams said, addressing his question to Shaver. Shaver said that was the correct procedure.

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“Can we vote tonight?” Sykes asked.

“I’d like for you to have the opportunity to study what it says and see if you concur,” Thompson said.

“I don’t want to do any resolution. Period,” Sykes said.

Shaver reiterated the resolution can be added to the March 19 agenda. Then the board will have the opportunity to decide to remove it from the agenda or vote on it as an agenda item. After Monday’s meeting, Williams said the January resolution was just a motion to rescind the support for seismic testing and oil drilling but not to bring up the resolution on the February agenda. Thompson said the 30 days were to review the issue and prepare a resolution that the board members could then take up. “Rescind and give everybody a chance to study. Now I’ve actually come up with the document that I would like to see us support,” he added.

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Reversing the county’s July 6, 2015, resolution leaves Carteret County, N.C., as the only county board of commissioners along the entire East Coast to endorse state and federal government steps to allow for offshore oil and natural gas development along the Atlantic coast.

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Brian Slattery is a staff writer for the Beacon. Reach him at 754-6890 or bslattery@brunswickbeacon.com.