Chris Smith, Pallone Unite To Fight Trump's Atlantic Drilling

MIDDLETOWN, NJ — Monmouth County's two congressman, one a longtime Democrat and the other a longtime Republican, came out this week strongly against President Donald Trump's plans to allow for seismic airgun blasting off the New Jersey coast, in order to explore for oil drilling in the Atlantic Ocean.

Rep. Frank Pallone (D-NJ6), who represents northern Monmouth County towns such as Matawan and Hazlet, and Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ4), who represents southern Monmouth County towns such as Freehold and Wall, both signed this letter Pallone sent Tuesday to the Bureau of Ocean Energy.

Congressman Joe Cunningham of South Carolina, a Democrat, also signed the letter; South Carolina is actually suing the Trump administration to prevent offshore drilling in the Atlantic Ocean.

In this week's letter, Pallone requested information on the federal government's plans to issue permits for the airgun blasting.

Pallone called the airgun blasting dangerous and disruptive to marine life, such as fish and whales. But, speaking to Patch in 2017, Jeff Tittel, director of the New Jersey Sierra Club, said there is some misinformation on both sides about just how harmful seismic blasting is.

"They are explosions but not the violent kind. It's like underwater fireworks," Tittel said in 2017. "Mammals do get scared and spooked. It's not a direct physical threat to whales, but 'annoyance' is also too mild of a word. These shock waves are unnatural sounds. The blasting can cause whales to run aground or do things they shouldn't do, like run into a ship. It does harass them."

Both Pallone and Smith said New Jersey's fishing industry and tourism industry would be affected by the seismic airgun blasting.

Shortly after he first took office in 2017, Trump directed the U.S. Department of Interior to explore oil and natural gas drilling in the Outer Continental Shelf. The seismic testing, and eventual drilling, would be done in an area tens of thousands of miles wide, stretching from the New Jersey/Delaware border to central Florida.

That part of the Atlantic Ocean was protected under President Barack Obama's Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act. Trump said he wants to undo those Obama-era protections, and plans to export the oil and natural gas to other countries. Trump has also pledged to increase oil and natural gas drilling in the Gulf of Mexico and in the Arctic.

"We're creating a new offshore oil and gas leasing program," Trump said in 2017. "America will be allowed to access the vast energy wealth located right off our shores. And this is all just the beginning — believe me. The golden era of American energy is now underway."

The first step before drilling is seismic testing to look for oil and natural gas. The National Marine Fisheries Service said it would grant five permits in the Atlantic for seismic testing. Seismic testing involves ships trolling that segment of the Atlantic, using airguns to send ultrasound waves through the water every ten seconds or so. This blasting can continue for months on end, according to this blog post from the Natural Resources Defense Council.

“We write to express our concern with plans to explore for offshore oil and gas in the Atlantic Ocean with harmful seismic airgun blasting," read Tuesday's bipartisan letter, signed by Smith, Pallone and the South Carolina congressman. “Creating one of the loudest man-made sounds in the ocean, noise from seismic airguns can disturb, injure, and even kill animals across the entire marine ecosystem. Exposing our abundant and lucrative ocean resources to dangerous blasting is simply not worth the risk."

The letter said that in New Jersey, the tourism industry generates over $44 billion a year and supports over half a million jobs, and that New Jersey’s commercial fishing industry generates over $8 billion annually, supporting over 50,000 jobs.

New Jersey also has one of the largest saltwater recreational fishing industries in the country, said Smith and Pallone. The letter also pointed out that the Jersey Shore is home to more than $700 billion in coastal properties.