When Gov. Pat McCrory dropped by this week’s Coastal Resources Commission meeting in Wilmington, he got a primer on issues that are uppermost in the minds of commission members.

Those issues include the rising cost and reduced federal funding for beach and inlet maintenance, questions about offshore energy exploration, the cost of flood and wind insurance and how to maintain coastal environments to sustain the fishing and tourism industries.

In a packed room at the Hilton Wilmington Riverside on Wednesday – the two-day meeting wraps up Thursday afternoon –  the governor and commission members heard brief presentations on each issue, along with one request from each presenter.

“These are complex issues and often involve conflicting jurisdictions and interests,” McCrory said, after hearing from each panel speaker. “There is a fine line; a need to find balance between economic prosperity and environmental protection.”

The interests of the tourism industry, dependent on the health and size of beaches, can be in conflict with the federal Endangered Species Act, said Todd Roessler, an attorney who works with the Carteret County Beach Commission and who sat on the panel discussion. There is uncertainty about possible changes in the regulations focused on four marine and shore creatures and what the impact of those changes might be, Rosessler said.

“The feds may … increase the critical habitat area” for the loggerhead turtle and Atlantic sturgeon and could list two shore birds as endangered, expanding critical habitat to include more beach area, Rosessler said.

“Pretty much anything that tourists do at the beach” would be in conflict with critical habitat regulations, he added.

Roessler’s request was that state officials consider filing a challenge to require more consistency in federal critical habitat designations.

There can be conflicting interests even within a single industry, said panelist Chris Dumas, an economics professor at University of North Carolina Wilmington who studies the economic value of coastal environments. He pointed out that commercial fishermen and recreational fishermen don’t always see eye to eye on resource allocation and use.

In attempting to assess the economic benefits of a healthy coastal environment, Dumas calculated the yearly direct expenditures of visitors to area beaches. Using data from 2013, he said those expenditures were about  $187 million for Brunswick County, $156 million for New Hanover County and $37 million for Pender County.

The costs to maintain beaches and waterways, assets Dumas describes as infrastructure, for optimal visitor use are high, he said, but necessary to the coastal economy. The loss of inlet dredging alone, he said, would result in the loss of about 1,600 jobs and $103 million in sales along the state’s coastline.

Dumas’ said the state should develop a “comprehensive, statewide plan” for keeping inlets dredged and beaches nourished.

Two speakers who addressed the issue of dredging in an era of declining funding recommended that North Carolina look at ways of decreasing costs. One way would be to expand the time window – currently from Nov. 15 to March 30 – during which offshore dredging can be done. That will require federal approval, they explained.

While McCrory said his main purpose at the meeting was to listen to the concerns and suggestions put forward, he did urge that the Coastal Resources Commission and coastal communities collaborate to “decide what to ask for” when communicating with relevant state and federal agencies. He noted that he has found the new U.S. interior secretary Sally Jewell to be open-minded and reasonable.

In other remarks, which were occasionally interrupted by pop-up protests from environmental activists, McCrory said that he is working with governors of other coastal states on a unified approach to offshore energy exploration and possible drilling.

“We want to come up with the right process, procedure, and we want federal assurance that we would get the same revenue-sharing deal as the Gulf states have,” he said, adding that he would not approve energy production off the North Carolina shore if oil company revenues were not shared with the coastal population – some, perhaps, to do inlet dredging and beach nourishment. (Click here for  more from McCrory about offshore energy exploration from his recent talk at the Business Journal's Energy Summit.)

McCrory also noted that many possible coastal projects are impeded because of lawsuits, such as one holding up the replacement of the Bonner Bridge in the Outer Banks.

“My DOT secretary can’t move” on the project, McCrory said. “We are spending so much on lawyers; money we could be spending on environmental cleanup and renourishment: tens of millions of dollars,” he said.