A federal government plan to allow exploration and possible future oil and gas drilling in the Atlantic Ocean, south of New Jersey, has Garden State environmental groups and some of its federal lawmakers rallying in opposition.
The U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management has established a five-year plan to investigate ocean drilling from off the coast of Virginia to Florida on the eastern seaboard. Part of that plan includes allowing energy companies to conduct seismic testing for exploration, starting south of Cape May Point, possibly as soon as this summer. According to Cindy Zipf, executive director of Clean Ocean Action, an environmental protection and advocacy organization, headquartered on Sandy Hook, “This would have extreme consequences for the entire Atlantic region.”
The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) plan doesn’t specifically permit any drilling off of New Jersey. State lawmakers had previously adopted a resolution in opposition to it. Calls to the office of Chris Christie on Wednesday were not immediately returned before press time. Christie, however, said in 2010 “I oppose the idea of drilling off of the coast of New Jersey…New Jersey’s coastline is one of our economic engines.”
Zipf on Wednesday echoed the Governor’s sentiments believing “You can’t have an oil-based economy and a clean ocean economy in the same ocean. They don’t mix.”
Even allowing seismic testing, Zipf maintained, could impact marine life. And drilling anywhere could have repercussions all along the coast, she added.
“While that may sound like it’s far away,” what is being proposed, she said, “in the ocean nothing is far away. If you have a spill it will flow up the shore.”
Raising the clarion call for Zipf and other groups along with U.S. Senators Cory Booker and Robert Menendez (both NJ-D) and U.S. Reps. Frank Pallone Jr. (D-NJ) and Frank LoBiondo (R-NJ) was that, given New Jersey isn’t technically in consideration the BOEM did not plan any public hearings on the proposal; the bureau plans a public meeting, where individuals can question bureau representatives who will provide information and literature, but without public comments and opinions being offered in the official record.
“It’s a lack of due process and terrible in terms of good government,” Zipf charged.
Whether New Jersey gets a public hearing, the public can offer written comments either by mail or online until March 30, Zipf said.
A phone call to the BOEM’s Washington, D.C. headquarters on Wednesday was not immediately returned.
A letter signed by the senators and congressmen seeking a public hearing on the matter has been sent to the BOEM’s offices, representatives for Booker and Menendez’s office said on Wednesday.
At a press conferences conducted in Atlantic City on Wednesday, with the lawmakers and environmentalists, Pallone said “We’ve seen that oil spills don’t respect state borders,” and an environmental incident could jeopardize not only the environment but also the shore area’s economy, according to a released statement.
— By John Burton
