Pallone, Menendez, Booker Lead Charge Against Off-shore Drilling
Decision expected by federal government in coming weeks
With just three days’ notice, hundreds organized on the Asbury Park boardwalk in front of Langosta Lounge to protest the exploration for offshore oil and its potential to open the Atlantic Ocean to drilling for the first time in over 30 years.
“Greeting from Asbury Park,” Mayor John Moor said as he opened the Sunday afternoon Rally.
“The Ocean is one of our greatest assets but also one of our biggest adversaries,” Moor said. “We use it as a source of commerce and recreations. We understand that with the benefits, also comes the natural risks that we must prepare for and then resolve. To create a new adversary, one that is bigger than any problem Mother Nature could bring on her own, is to invite tragedy to strike. This is completely unacceptable. We cannot anticipate what natural disaster could bring but we know what perils come with drilling off of our coast.”
Cindy Zipf, Executive Director of Clean Ocean Action said the Obama Administration’s imminent decision as to whether the Atlantic Ocean should be included in the oil and gas leasing plans – due to begin next year – is a big threat.
“It will affect the Atlantic Ocean forevermore,” said Zipf, who moderated the list of local and national speakers that included U.S. Rep. Frank Pallone Jr [D-6th district], and Senators Robert Menendez and Cory Booker [D-NJ].
Pat and Bob Bennekamper of Brick said they’ve Clean Ocean Action volunteers for over 20 years.
“That’s the ocean,” Pat Bennekamper said pointing to idyllic waves crashing along the shore line on the sunny 40 
degree day on the last day of January, not too far of a contrast from the June 2014 rally that brought Menendez and Pallone to the Asbury Park Boardwalk tow warn the public of the negative economic and environmental impacts of offshore drilling in the Atlantic to the Jersey Shore.
“We only have the one ocean,” Bennekamper said. “We should protect her.”
“It’s hard to understand why people need to beat over the head to get them to understand the harm that is being done,” her husband Bob said.
The couple were among those across the state who gathered to protest the threat of opening up drilling along the eastern seaboard. Mayors and representatives from Highland Park and Union Beach to Cape May County were in attendance.
“When the ocean is threatened, people respond,” Zipf said.
The speakers in attendance all agreed oil production off the coast of Virginia, the Carolinas and Georgia will put New Jersey’s economy and shore communities at significant risk.
“We know that the technology to drill safely does not exist and that the effects of a spill would be devastating and long-lasting,” Pallone said. “I have said time and time again that we cannot jeopardize our state and regional economies, our environment, and our marine life to pursue a dangerous and outdated energy policy. I urge the Administration to think twice before allowing Big Oil to endanger New Jersey’s environmental and economic well-being.”
The federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management [BOEM] is expected to release its revised plan in the coming weeks.
“An oil spill threatens everything we hold dear about the Shore—and we have to do everything in our power to prevent it from becoming a reality,” Menendez said. “Let’s call Atlantic drilling what it is: another handout to the oil industry. Oil companies don’t need another gift from the federal government.”
The federal lawmakers cited adverse effects on the Pacific coastline as well as the massive 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico that caused long term marine and coastal damage in several Gulf States, saying a similar incident in the Mid-Atlantic would threaten New Jersey’s coastline.
“We must stand united in protecting the people and economy of the Jersey Shore and the entire East Coast in the face of the potentially irreparable effects from drilling in the Atlantic,” Booker said. “Knowing full well the devastating economic and environmental dangers associated with catastrophic oil spills like Deepwater Horizon, we simply can’t stand idly by while our region is exposed to the same risk.”
The Obama Administration last proposed opening the Atlantic to oil and gas exploration in 2010, but Sen. Menendez, Rep. Pallone, the late-Sen. Frank Lautenberg and former Rep. Rush Holt (N.J.-12) were successful in convincing BOEM to abandon those plans.
The Jersey Shore is home to over $700 billion in coastal properties and a tourism industry that generates over $38 billion a year, thereby supporting almost half a million jobs, or nearly ten percent of the state’s entire workforce, said organizers, who have launched a petition campaign.
The commercial fishing industry generates over $7.9 billion annually and supports over 50,000 jobs. The state also has one of the largest saltwater recreational fishing industries in the nation.
Below are excerpts from environmental and commercial speakers:
Jeff Tittel, New Jersey Sierra Club Director said: “Our coast is being threatened by offshore drilling. It could cause serious and lasting environmental harm and could ruin our tourism industry. Drilling anywhere in the Mid-Atlantic would directly put our coasts at risk. Even a spill off of Virginia would find its way to our shores. The oil would be taken to refineries in our area, further putting us at risk. With Congress lifting the export ban, the only oil we may see from offshore drilling will be what washes up on our beaches. The rest of it will end up in China or Europe and not in our gas tanks. We have to stand up to those fossil fools in Washington and tell them we want renewable energy instead of dirty fuels. We want windmills off our coasts, not oil rigs. The only oil we ever want to see at our beaches is suntan oil.”
Doug O’Malley, Environment New Jersey Director said: “We can’t keep digging the climate hole deeper by expanding off-shore drilling off the Atlantic. We need to stop off-shore drilling’s expansion off the Atlantic Coast that will put a permanent oily stain on President Obama’s climate legacy and put the Jersey Shore at risk. The President’s legacy should be clean energy, not the potential for oil-slicked beaches in Cape May. Ocean currents don’t care about state boundaries and our beaches shouldn’t be a sacrifice zone to oil companies.”
Tom Fote, Jersey Coast Anglers Association’s Legislative Chairman said: “Jersey Coast Anglers Association and the NJ State Federation of Sportsmens Clubs are opposed to offshore drilling for any purpose off the Atlantic Coast. The negative impact on fishing and the environment as a result of the BP oil spill only confirmed our long term commitment to protecting the Jersey shore from a similar disaster. Because of the huge population along the 600 miles of coast from Massachusetts to Virginia and the importance of the commercial and recreational fishing communities, the impact of any oil spill here would be even more catastrophic.”
Jim Donofrio, Recreational Fishing Alliance Executive Director said: “Oil companies and the feds proved during the Horizon spill that they can’t handle any offshore, deep water drilling. There is enough oil and gas to run all our nation from inland sources and we need to stop drilling the ocean floor. It is too fragile of an environment.”
Amy Goldsmith, Clean Water Action State Director: “Now is the time for President Obama to be leaving a lasting positive environmental legacy, a time to explore for clean, safe and affordable renewable energy, energy efficiency and conservation, and a diverse array of corresponding green jobs—not set a course towards putting the ocean up for sale.”
Vicki Clark, Cape May County Chamber of Commerce President said: “An oil spill along the Mid-Atlantic Coast would not occur in isolation and could cause catastrophic damage to our fragile and priceless ecosystem. Cape May County is located at the most southern tip of New Jersey, whose quality of life and economy is driven by beach tourism, ecotourism and aquaculture, all of which would be devastated in the event of a drilling disaster.”
Tim Dillingham, American Littoral Society Executive Director said: “We have a clear vision for the future of our ocean and coast: clean water, abundant wildlife, vibrant traditional and sustainable economies from tourism and fisheries. Each of these is threatened by oil and gas development in the mid-Atlantic ocean. We know what we want our ocean’s future to look like, and it doesn’t include giving it away to the oil industry. The President should listen to the citizens whose lives will be affected by this decision, and drop the mid-Atlantic from the leasing program.”
John Weber, Surfrider Foundation Mid-Atlantic Regional Manager said: “The Surfrider Foundation knows that offshore oil drilling is not the answer. This is why a group of our members and activists from Florida to New York will be descending on Washington DC next week to convince elected leaders and Administration officials that coastal and ocean recreation is more valuable to our economy than dirty fossil fuel extraction.”
In April, Sen. Menendez and Rep. Pallone wrote the Clean Ocean and Safe Tourism (COAST) Anti-Drilling Act, co-sponsored by Sen. Booker. It called for a ban on oil and gas exploration, development, and production in the Atlantic Ocean.
On Thursday Sens. Menendez and Booker joined several East Coast Senators in introducing the “Kill the Drill: Anti-Atlantic Offshore Drilling.” The Energy Policy Modernization Act amendment mirrors the COAST Act being debated in the Senate.
Participating organizations included:
American Littoral Society
Association of N.J. Environmental Commissions
Bradley Beach Environmental Commission Cape May County Chamber of Commerce
Citizens Climate Lobby Clean Ocean Action
Clean Water Action Environment New Jersey
Food & Water Watch N.J. Garden State Seafood Association
Jersey Coast Anglers Association Langosta Lounge, Asbury Park
League of Women Voters N.J. Citizen Action
N.J. League of Conservation Voters N.J. League of Municipalities
N.J. Sierra Club N.J. Tourism Industry Association
N.Y./N.J. Baykeeper Recreational Fishing Alliance
Save Barnegat Bay Surfers Environmental Alliance
Surfrider Foundation
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