Federal Officials Take Aim At Trump Order On Offshore Drilling

Federal officials announced they will reintroduce legislation aimed at banning offshore oil and gas drilling in the Atlantic Ocean in response to an executive order signed by President Donald Trump last week. U.S. Sens. Bob Menendez and Cory Booker joined Rep. Frank Pallone (D-6) on the Belmar Boardwalk on Monday to announce the re-introduction of the Clean Ocean and Safe Tourism (COAST) Anti-Drilling Act. On Friday, Trump signed an executive order that could pave the way for drilling off the New Jersey coast.

“Sandy was a natural disaster that devastated our state. The last thing we need is a man-made disaster in the form of an offshore oil spill,” Menendez said. “The COAST Anti-Drilling Act doesn’t merely aim to preserve the current five-year offshore drilling ban; it stops the Atlantic from ever ending up in any plan. It draws a line in the sand—a line that we must never let Big Oil cross.”

COAST prohibits the U.S. Department of Interior from issuing leases for the exploration, development, or production of oil or gas in the North, Mid-, or South Atlantic Ocean or the Straits of Florida.

Menendez is sponsoring the legislation, which is co-sponsored by Sens. Booker, Edward Markey (D-Mass.), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), Jack Reed (D-R.I.), Bill Nelson (D-Fla.), Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii), Ben Cardin (D-Md.), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Maggie Hassan (D-N.H.) and Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.).

Pallone is the chief sponsor of companion legislation he is also reintroducing today in the House of Representatives.

"An oil spill in the Atlantic Ocean would severely harm the environment and damage our coastal economies, especially the thousands of small businesses that line the Jersey Shore,” Booker said. “We can’t afford to sit idly by while our ocean and coastal region is exposed to this risk. Our bill, which bans offshore oil and gas drilling in the Atlantic region, seeks to prevent an oil-related disaster in New Jersey and our neighboring states."

The Jersey Shore is home to over $700 billion in coastal properties. The tourism industry generates $38 billion a year and supports almost half a million direct and indirect jobs, which constitutes about 10 percent of the state’s entire workforce, officials said.

The state’s commercial fishing industry generates over $7.9 billion annually and supports over 50,000 jobs. The state has one of the largest saltwater recreational fishing industries in the nation. Officials say all of these are threatened by offshore drilling.

“President Trump has now taken a dangerous step that will risk the livelihoods of millions on the Atlantic Coast and in New Jersey. An oil spill anywhere along the Atlantic Coast would cause severe environmental damage to fisheries, popular beaches and wildlife. I will work with members of the New Jersey delegation and colleagues in Congress to pass the COAST Act and prevent the Trump administration from wreaking havoc on New Jersey’s coastal communities,” Pallone said.

The executive order signed last week instructs Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke to explore a permanent ban on drilling in some parts of the Atlantic and Arctic oceans, and banned drilling in the oceans as a whole for five years. That plan was authorized by then President Barack Obama in December.

Zinke said that process will take a while, and not all coastal communities want offshore drilling. He also said revenue from offshore leasing dropped by $15 billion under the Obama Administration, with some but not all of that due to the drop in oil prices.

The decision was met with bi-partisan opposition in New Jersey, including from Rep. Frank LoBiondo (R-2), who pointed out the impact drilling would have on the nation’s most sensitive coastal and marine resources, including those off New Jersey, as well as the impact on the state's economy.

Last year, Menendez, Booker and Pallone led the fight to to remove the Atlantic Ocean from the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management's 2017-22 Outer Continental Shelf Oil and Gas Leasing Draft Proposed Program (Five-Year Plan). Trump’s executive order also rolls back those efforts.

“The economic and environmental devastation of the 2010 Deepwater Horizon tragedy far exceeded what many believed would be the worst-case scenario for an offshore oil accident,” the officials said in a joint statement. “More than seven years later, the Gulf Coast still hasn’t fully recovered from its catastrophic impact. At a time when New Jerseyans are continuing to rebuild their lives after Superstorm Sandy, the last thing they need is the prospect of a manmade disaster from an oil spill.”

The attached image was provided