Contact: Jeff Tittel, NJ Sierra Club, 609-558-9100

NJ Senators/Reps Oppose Offshore Drilling in Atlantic

About half the members of New Jersey’s Congressional Delegation have sent a letter to Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) opposing the Trump Administration’s decision to revisit the 5-year lease plan on oil exploration and drilling in the Atlantic Ocean. Senators Booker and Menendez, along with Congressmembers Pallone, Sires, Pascrell, Norcross, and Watson-Coleman have signed on. The possibility of an oil spill or leak would threaten New Jersey’s entire coastal economy. While President Obama made efforts to protect our oceans, the Trump Administration is pushing forward with seismic testing and ultimately, offshore drilling.

“It’s important that these elected officials are standing up against the Trump Administration’s plan to drill the Atlantic. Where are the rest of our representatives? Where is Governor Christie? They should all be working to protect New Jersey by fighting back against offshore drilling. What the President is doing is selling out our coast and risking our economy to Big Oil and Gas interests. Now is the time for the people to stand up and speak out against this disastrous plan. With this plan, Trump is clearly threatening our $38 billion coastal economy, destroying our ecosystem and fisheries to take care of corporate polluters. Our state will not only be at risk from a spill or explosion, but we will see more climate impacts threatening people and property,” said Jeff Tittel, Director of the New Jersey Sierra Club. “Offshore drilling would be disastrous for our state’s environment and economy. We want to thank our Senators and Congressmembers who signied on to this letter and sending a clear message to fossil fool in the Whitehouse to withdraw this dangerous plan.”

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.

“Instead of taking action against President Trump and suing against offshore drilling, our Governor is enjoying a beach closed to the public. Our Governor rather play politics and shutdown the government than get the Attorney General to go to Court against Trump. He is clearly holding the people of New Jersey hostage to his political vendetta instead of protecting our coasts,” said Jeff Tittel. “While Trump and Zinke want to look for the best places to drill, we will use their own science against them in Court. Sierra Club’s lawsuit will defend our safety, ecosystem, fisheries, and coastal economies from Trump’s dangerous and greedy actions. Sierra Club will show that drilling anywhere in the Mid-Atlantic would directly put our coasts at risk. The oil would be taken to refineries in our area, further putting us at risk. We must stand up to Trump and the fossil fools in Washington. The same ‘Drill Baby, Drill’ crowd are now the ‘Spill Baby, Spill Crowd.”

Sierra Club and others are going to Court to preserve the Obama Administration’s protections of about 4 million acres last year. Obama, acting under his authority designated by Section 12a of the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act, protected 115 million acres of the Arctic Ocean, excluding only 2.9 million acres which have previously been leased near Prudhoe Bay, Alaska. In the Atlantic Ocean, Obama protected 3.8 million acres, stretching from Massachusetts to Maryland. The lawsuit could decide how much authority presidents have to dictate when and where offshore drilling should take place, as the first test of a 64-year-old statute empowering presidents to rule out the activity “from time to time.”

“Offshore drilling will lead to increased climate impacts, while polluting our air and waterways. What is even worse is that the oil and gas being drilled for could be shipped to Europe or Asian. That means the only oil we will see is the oil that will wash up on our beaches from a spill. The oil would be taken to refineries in our area, further putting us at risk,” said Tittel.

Trump’s Department of Interior is clearly favoring fossil fuels over preservation or protection of our lands and coasts. They came out in opposition to pending Obama Administration moves to reform the federal energy leasing program. He also expressed opposition to keeping Montana’s coal reserves in the ground- which are the largest in the nation. Rep. Zinke has supported increasing coal mining and oil and gas exploration. We are very concerned that Rep. Zinke will exacerbate drilling, fracking, and mining on public lands without looking at the impact on public health and climate change.

“Instead of listening to the public who opposes offshore drilling, Trump is continuing the fossil foolishness of the past. We need to stand up to continue to protect our coasts because one quart of oil pollutes a million gallons of water so this is a serious threat. We have to 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,” said Jeff Tittel, Director of the New Jersey Sierra Club.

Comments on the plan can be taken at: https://www.boem.gov/Public-Engagement-Opportunities/ until August 17th 2017. (Open the “Open Comment Document” link and follow instructions to view relevant documents and submit comments).