Ban offshore drilling and seismic testing off NJ coast!
2024 Summer Camp Guide
2024 Summer Camp Guidep

Community News

Ban offshore drilling and seismic testing off NJ coast!
7/13/2017

Summer is in full swing at the Jersey shore. Over the next couple of months and into the fall, millions of visitors will head “down the shore” for the beaches, fishing, boating and ecotourism activities like whale and dolphin watching.

It’s hard to imagine New Jersey without its thriving shore tourism economy - dependent on a healthy ocean and a clean coastline stretching from Sandy Hook to Cape May. The same goes for its commercial fishing industry, which supplies fresh seafood to countless restaurants and markets.

But tourism and commercial fishing in New Jersey are once again threatened by a bad idea that comes back again and again: ocean drilling for oil and gas along the coast of this state we’re in.

In April, President Trump signed an executive order reopening the possibility of drilling in the waters off the East Coast, including New Jersey. Then, on June 5, the Trump administration proposed to issue five permits for offshore seismic testing … a first step to oil exploration.

Trump’s executive order would undo an executive order signed by President Barack Obama last December, reinstating a moratorium on offshore drilling from Massachusetts to Virginia.

New Jersey’s congressional delegation has objected strenuously to both the offshore drilling and seismic testing proposals.

In a letter to Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke, Congressman Frank Pallone, Senators Robert Menendez and Cory Booker, and seven other Congressional representatives said drilling off the Atlantic coast would have “severe economic and environmental impacts” on New Jersey.

“Tourism along the Jersey shore generates almost $40 billion each year and supports half a million jobs – including the fishing, boating and recreational industries,” according to the letter. “Allowing offshore drilling would unnecessarily threaten the economies of the communities that rely on a thriving coastline. Fragile marine ecosystems and species would also be placed in danger of a potential future environmental disaster resulting from a blowout or other failure offshore.”

In a separate letter to the National Marine Fisheries Service, New Jersey’s entire congressional delegation - Democrats and Republicans alike - expressed concern about the proposal to issue permits for seismic testing.

Seismic testing is not benign. Large air guns are towed behind ships, repeatedly firing loud blasts at the ocean floor. The sound waves produced by these blasts bounce back to the surface, and help measure the presence of oil or gas.

These blasts are harmful. “Seismic testing can disrupt migratory patterns, cause marine wildlife to abandon important habitats and disrupt mating and feeding,” the legislators said. “The sound wave tests can also destroy fish eggs and larvae. These tests can also cause deafness in whales and dolphins, both of which rely on hearing to reproduce, locate food and communicate.”

To stop offshore drilling, two pieces of legislation have been introduced. One would prevent the Trump administration from renewing the 5-year oil and gas leasing process, while the other – known as the COAST Anti-Drilling Act - would permanently ban offshore drilling in the Atlantic Ocean.

These bills must become law. The severe harm that would occur from drilling and testing on marine fisheries and populations of whales and dolphins is unacceptable. And a catastrophic oil spill would cause long-term degradation of New Jersey’s beaches.

Organizations like Clean Ocean Action and the American Littoral Society have worked hard to protect our oceans for decades. “Citizens of New Jersey spent a lot of years cleaning up the ocean – we didn’t do that to turn over our waters to big oil,” said Tim Dillingham, executive director of the American Littoral Society. “We know where we drill we spill, and that’s unacceptable to the shore economies that depend on a clean ocean.”

The economies of New Jersey and other coastal states depend heavily on tourism, which would fail without a healthy marine environment. In New Jersey alone tourism and fishing industries bring in $50 billion a year and employ over 500,000 people. Offshore drilling and seismic blasts must be permanently prohibited.

You can help! Contact your Congressional representatives and let them know you fully support their efforts to permanently stop offshore drilling and seismic testing along the Atlantic coast.

Visit the American Littoral Society’s website at www.littoralsociety.org and Clean Ocean Action at www.cleanoceanaction.org for more information about protecting our coasts.

And to learn more about preserving New Jersey’s land and natural resources, visit the New Jersey Conservation Foundation website at www.njconservation.org or contact me at info@njconservation.org.

POSTS

Still the Garden State!

Protect New Jersey's wildlife homes

Preserved lands protect clean air and water

To tree or not to tree?

Hard cider in the Garden State

Turkey Time

American shad return to New Jersey river after 173 years

Act now to avoid worst climate impacts

NJ Natural Lands Trust celebrates 50 years

Must love bats!

Move and improve your health!

Renewable energy: Save money and our land, water, air and health

Speak up for endangered species!

Save the bugs!

Check out New Jersey's fall bird migration

A little bit of respect...for native plants!

Explore New Jersey's wildflower meadows

All aboard floating classrooms

Catch the Perseids meteor shower!

Check out the 'fun' in fungi

Too hot to think? Studies shows heat affects your brain

Love NJ's outdoors? Take action now!

New Jersey's official reptile, the bog turtle

Sea level rise and New Jersey: Not perfect together

These New Jersey plants have an appetite for insects

Explore the Pine Barrens through paddles, hikes and tours

Like to jog? 'Plog' instead and keep NJ clean

Love Jersey fruit? Thank our native pollinators!

Good news for globally rare swamp pink lilies

Say cheese! Remote cameras aid wildlife research

Begone, single-use plastic bags!

3,000 birds and counting for 'bluebird grandfather'

The Pine Barrens gets some help from its friends

A clean energy future for New Jersey

Cowtown and rare grassland birds, perfect together

Fight light pollution during International Dark Sky Week

New film tells story of how Petty's Island was saved

Ten years of nipping invasive species in the bud

Welcome spring in a county park

Go for a walk and feel better!

Grab a friend and go outside

Recycle your way to zero waste!

Last call for winter wildlife watching on Jersey coast

Without its 'understory' layer, the forest will collapse

From whale songs to poetry, a remarkable journey

A cleaner, greener New Jersey

Let's keep New Jersey the Garden State, not the Pipeline State

New Jersey's winter hikes

'Trees don't vote' but Byrne saved Pine Barrens anyway

Governor-elect Murphy should set new course on the environment

ARCHIVE

December 2018
November 2018
October 2018
September 2018
August 2018
July 2018
June 2018
May 2018
April 2018
March 2018
February 2018
January 2018
December 2017
November 2017
October 2017
September 2017
August 2017
July 2017
June 2017
May 2017
April 2017
March 2017
February 2017
January 2017
December 2016
November 2016
October 2016
September 2016
August 2016
July 2016
June 2016
May 2016
April 2016
March 2016
February 2016
January 2016
December 2015
November 2015
October 2015
September 2015
August 2015
July 2015
June 2015
May 2015
April 2015
March 2015
February 2015
January 2015
December 2014
November 2014
October 2014
September 2014
August 2014
July 2014
June 2014
May 2014
April 2014
March 2014
February 2014
January 2014
December 2013
November 2013
October 2013
September 2013
August 2013
July 2013
June 2013
May 2013
April 2013
March 2013
February 2013
January 2013
December 2012
November 2012
October 2012
September 2012
August 2012
July 2012
June 2012
May 2012
April 2012
March 2012
February 2012
January 2012
December 2011
November 2011
October 2011
September 2011
August 2011
July 2011
June 2011
May 2011
April 2011
March 2011
February 2011
January 2011

CLICK FOR RECENT POSTS