News
Offshore Drilling 'A False Solution' Environmentalists, officials reject Obama plan for East Coast
By John Burton
BELMAR - Rep. Frank Pallone Jr. (D-6) is joining with some of the state's leading environmental groups, to oppose a recent Obama administration proposal to allow offshore oil and natural gas drilling off the East coast.
At a press conference held on the beach here last Friday, Rep. Frank Pallone, Jr. voiced his opposition to a plan to allow offshore drilling for oil and natural gas off the East Coast and Alaska.
Flanked by members of the Sierra Club, Clean Ocean Action, the New Jersey Environmental Federation, and others who oppose the proposal, Pallone underlined his opposition to the proposal from the White House that would allow drilling from the northern tip of Delaware, off the coast of Virginia, and along the northern Alaskan coastline.
Pallone, who has been an active proponent of environmental protection during his tenure in the U.S. House of Representatives, said, "There's just no way to protect the environment by allowing this sort of thing."
Pallone's concerns were echoed by members of area environmental groups, a local business owner and a commercial fisherman who reeled off a litany of concerns and objections to the proposal as they stood on the boardwalk in the morning sunshine.
Pallone said that in addition to the environmental threat the proposal brings, he is also concerned that the state's tourism industry could suffer should there be an oil spill. According to statistics available on the New Jersey Secretary of State's Web site, New Jersey tourism revenue reached an all time high in 2007, earning $39.5 billion. That number dropped the next year, but only by 1.6 percent as tourists spent an estimated $38.8 billion in 2008.
American presidents, both Republican and Democrat, have supported a more than 20-year-old executive order prohibiting offshore drilling, Pallone noted.
Given the dramatic spike in oil and gas prices experienced in summer 2008, there was a call from many to permit offshore drilling as a means of reducing, even if only temporarily, American dependence on imported oil.
Concern about the issue gave rise to the Republican slogan "Drill, Baby, Drill" chanted at GOP rallies and by then vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin at the Republican National Convention that summer.
Environmentalists reacted strongly against the idea.
"It's a false solution," argued Jenny Vickers, communications coordinator for the New Jersey Environmental Federation. "And this is a taxpayer subsidized giveaway to oil companies."
"Does anyone think that that Exxon/Mobil needs our help?" she asked.
Workers earn about $5 billion a year directly or indirectly from commercial fishing off of New Jersey waters, "From the dock to the fish market on to the restaurant," said Jim Lovgren, Bricktown, a commercial fisherman who operates out of Point Pleasant Beach.
"It's threatened now by the oil industry," Lovgren warned.
The President's proposal would not permit oil or natural gas drilling specifically off of New Jersey, but all there agreed it could nevertheless have ramifications this far north of the allowed areas.
"The ocean doesn't have walls, it's a flowing ecosystem" said Cindy Zipf, executive director for Clean Ocean Action. Besides, she continued, due to the Gulf Stream any spills occurring to the south would flow into waters off New Jersey.
Jeff Tittel, executive director the New Jersey chapter of the Sierra Club, said it only takes one quart of oil to pollute one million gallons of water and the permitted drilling area is approximately 10 miles off Cape May.
"New Jersey is at tremendous risk," Zipf warned.
"In the long term, what's the real answer, here?" Pallone asked. He answered his own question by saying the emphasis should be on establishing alternative and clean energy sources, such as wind, because, "You can't drill your way out of this energy crisis."
President Obama last week said this action was as a stopgap measure until viable alternatives could be established.
But Zipf said, "It's a real bad deal with the devil."
About 20 years ago, the waters around New Jersey were in bad shape. But through the work of grassroots activism, citizens and groups were able to sway lawmakers and made real improvements, the speakers all noted. That fight has to continue again on this battle, they said.
"Enough. Hands off our shore," Tittel said. "The Jersey Shore is not an MTV show. It's our lives."
Governor Chris Christie, a Republican, said on March 31 in a released statement, "I oppose the idea of drilling off the coast of New Jersey."
"New Jersey's coastline is one of our economic engines and I would have to be really convinced of both the economic viability and environmental safety of oil and gas exploration off our coast," he said. "At this point, I'm not convinced of either."
"So, we do have powerful friends," in this fight, Zipf said.
