Nancy Mace:  I support Trump but not offshore oil drilling. It would hurt my state economy.

Right up front, it is important to know I support President Donald Trump.

I had a leadership role in his South Carolina campaign, I believe in his agenda, and I will support his reelection.

But I also support the coast when it comes to oil drilling in the Atlantic Ocean.

The people who elected me to South Carolina’s House District 99 in the Charleston area are vociferously opposed to oil drilling and the seismic testing that precedes it. They believe — and I concur —that seismic testing and oil drilling jeopardize a coastal economy that relies on clean beaches and inviting water.

We have both in abundance in South Carolina. We shouldn’t put our shoreline at risk.

Interior Secretary David Bernhardt has put the administration’s drilling plans on hold for now. I urge the administration to make this pause permanent and to listen to its citizens, the mayors and the business owners who all say oil drilling is neither wanted nor needed off our coast.

I listened, and so did many of my colleagues in the state House of Representatives. We joined the state Senate and Gov. Henry McMaster in supporting a new year-long ban on drilling infrastructure on our shores and in our state waters.

Widespread, bipartisan opposition to drilling

The vote was an easy one because oil drilling is so unpopular among coastal South Carolina mayors. The coastal tourism industry in South Carolina supports more than 60,000 workers who take home over $1 billion in wages a year, according to a 2015 study.