State dollars won’t go to offshore drilling – at least not for the next year.

Gov. Henry McMaster signed the state’s budget bill including a proviso from the largely conservative SC legislature to ban state and local money for offshore oil and gas – effectively stranding offshore drilling.

Offshore drilling has drawn the attention of a number of states since the Interior Department proposed a 5-year drilling plan expanding the current offshore industry to more than 90% of federal waters, including South Carolina.

SC Small Business Chamber of Commerce CEO Frank Knapp said the debate may find its ground zero in conservative South Carolina.

Gov. McMaster has been an outspoken critic of offshore drilling, reversing the position of former Gov. Nikki Haley of Lexington.

“Governor McMaster will do whatever it takes to make sure we never see offshore drilling or seismic testing off of South Carolina’s coast,” the governor’s spokesman Brian Symmes said.