Seemingly shoring up the environmental platform of his 2009 Gubernatorial re-election campaign, today NJ Governor Jon Corzine spoke at a well attended NY City press conference with New York Governor David A. Paterson to announce an "historic" "Mid Atlantic Governor’s Agreement on Ocean Conservation" among the 5 mid-Atlantic states: NY, NJ, Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia.
The event was backed by the Obama Administration, who sent the President’s Council on Environmental Quality Chair, Nancy Sutley, and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Administrator, Dr. Jane Lubchenco.
The Obama support proved merely rhetorical in the Mid Atlantic region, which contrasts with NOAA Administrator Lubchenco’s $18.6 million and regulatory reform commitments last month to the New England region to improve fisheries management. New England Governors and Congressional delegation were able to secure real commitments from the Obama administration – with the Atlantic ocean in crisis, why were NY/NJ unable to get similar treatment?