EPA Pushes Rule for Drilling Off Our Coast

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has announced an update to the Outer Continental Shelf Air Regulations. This is for drilling off the coast of New Jersey and they include New Jersey State Requirements because we are an adjacent state to the drilling plans. This comes after the Administration introduced a bill that would impose a fee on states that attempt to ban offshore drilling as New Jersey has done with our new law.

“In spite of all the opposition in New Jersey, the Trump Administration in moving forward with drilling off our coast. The federal government is pushing regulations for air permitting for drilling rigs in waters adjacent to New Jersey. Even though all state and federal elected officials in New Jersey are against drilling off our coast, Trump doesn’t care. New Jersey even passed a law to ban drilling in state water and not allowing infrastructure to come in,” said Jeff Tittel Director of the New Jersey Sierra Club. “This is a public be dam attitude from the Drill Baby Drill crowd in the White House. They are siding with Big Oil over our environment and our economy. Putting our air, our sea and beaches at risk.”

A new proposal for air regulations based on New Jersey for offshore drilling was found in the register. Drilling anyone near our water would directly threaten our communities, environment, and economy. If a tragic accident such as the Deepwater Horizon oil rig explosion happened off our coast, we’d see a major environmental

“This is a major threat to our air from toxic and carcinogenic chemicals like benzene and TCP, and greenhouse gases like methane. These air pollutants will attack our lungs while an oil spill will attack our beaches. Drilling anyone near our water would directly threaten our communities, environment, and economy. If a tragic accident such as the Deepwater Horizon oil rig explosion happened off our coast, we’d see a major environmental disaster,” said Tittel. “New Jersey needs to Act and come out strongly against offshore drilling and air pollution during the comment period in the next 30 days. We must tell the Trump Administration that we don’t want oil drilling off our coats, or the air or water pollution that will come with it!”

Sierra Club’s Don’t Rig Our Coastal Economy report found that New Jersey’s coastal tourism industry supports nearly 500,000 jobs, and one out of every six of the state’s jobs are linked in some form to its shoreline. Visits to the area generate $16.6 billion in wages and add $5.5 billion to the state’s tax coffers. During the summer of 1988 when medical waste washed up onto a 50-mile stretch of New Jersey’s shore, tourism dropped off significantly and the area directly lost at least $1 billion in revenue.  An oil spill off the coast of New Jersey could trigger an even more dramatic decline in tourism.

“They’re using our state’s pollution rules because of adjacency which means we’ll be directly threatened by this dangerous and unneeded activity. Our rules on air pollution were never designed to deal with offshore drilling because our state has never had it or supported it, nor online drilling. We’re not even sure if our standards would be strong enough to be used for offshore drilling,” said Jeff Tittel. “We don’t have drilling on our land so how would we know if our rules are adequate?”

The Trump Administration has introduced the National Outer Continental Shelf Oil and Gas Leasing Program (National OCS Program). Trump’s proposal is auctioning oil and gas drilling rights in the Arctic Sea, the Atlantic Ocean, the eastern Gulf of Mexico and possibly Pacific waters around the U.S. He ordered his Interior Department to write the new blueprint with the aim of auctioning oil and gas drilling rights off the U.S. East Coast. Trump’s proposal would span the years 2019 to 2024, replacing the Obama plan, which runs through 2022.

“New Jersey’s coasts are directly affected by the Trump Administration’s proposal. Offshore drilling would be disastrous for our state’s environment and would jeopardize our $38 billion coastal economy and fishing industry. The possibility of an oil spill or leak would threaten New Jersey’s entire coastal economy. Drilling anywhere in the Mid-Atlantic would directly put our coasts at risk. We must do everything we can to protect our shores, communities, and industries from the threats of offshore drilling,” said Jeff Tittel.

In April, Governor Murphy signed A839 (Land) into law, prohibiting offshore drilling in State waters and issuance of DEP permits and approvals for activities associated with offshore drilling. Drilling for oil poisons our oceans and threatens our entire economy from fishing to tourism. We must explore new technologies for wind and wave power and remove obstacles that stand in the way of clean energy. We should be focusing on promoting safe and renewable energy like wind power and not opening up the Atlantic to drilling.

“Even with our new law, Trump’s proposal for offshore drilling is a major threat to New Jersey. It will lead to air and water pollution and threaten our economy and environment. We will continue to fight against any drilling in state waters, or any oil or infrastructure being transported from offshore into NJ. We can’t be threatened by the air and water pollution that comes from offshore drilling. Zinke had told Republican Congressmen from New Jersey that they will probably not be putting leases off our coast. Well it looks like Zinke said that so we would let our guard down. They are pushing for drilling anyway,” said Jeff Tittel, Director of the New Jersey Sierra Club. “ Even though there is unanimous support in New Jersey against drilling, the Trump Administration doesn’t care. We need to fight back and stand up to the President and his administration. We need to tell them that we will not allow drilling off our coast. Kill the Drill!”