Saving Seafood

Wind opponents sue Trump administration to block New York wind project

June 4, 2025 — Fishing companies and offshore wind opponents filed a lawsuit on Tuesday challenging the Trump administration’s decision to reverse course and allow construction to resume on Empire Wind, a $5 billion wind farm project off New York’s coast.

Protect Our Coast New Jersey, Clean Ocean Action, ACK for Whales and 12 fishing industry participants in a lawsuit, filed in federal court in Trenton, New Jersey, sought to reinstate a stop work order Interior Secretary Doug Burgum issued in April halting construction of Equinor’s wind project.

Burgum issued that order after Republican President Donald Trump on his first day back in office on January 20 directed his administration to halt offshore wind lease sales and stop the issuance of permits, leases and loans for both onshore and offshore wind projects.

He did so while also moving to ramp up the federal government’s support for the fossil fuel industry and maximize output in the United States. Trump as a candidate last year promised to end the offshore wind industry.

Read the full article at Reuters

Cape May County Chamber Applauds Governor’s Opposition to Offshore Oil Drilling Plan

August 17, 2017 — CAPE MAY, N.J. — The Cape May County Chamber of Commerce applauds the Christie Administration for its statement opposing offshore exploration and development of oil and natural gas resources off the coast of New Jersey or any area of the Atlantic that could adversely affect our pristine coastal communities, fishing estuaries and vibrant tourism economy.

The Cape May County Chamber of Commerce in partnership with Clean Ocean Action and the Jersey Shore Partnership, along with other concerned organizations, encouraged Governor Christie to issue this statement before the Aug. 17 deadline to submit comments to the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM).

Read the full story at the Cape May County Herald

Could Seismic Tests Harm Fish?

June 16, 2016 — Fish might not have fancy communication equipment like whales and dolphins, but they do have their specialized ways of navigating through an ocean filled with predators and mobile food sources. And these honed adaptive responses could potentially be harmed by seismic air guns.

But as the federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management continues to review the effects of proposed seismic surveys on marine mammals in the Atlantic, an environmental advocacy group is putting out alarms that the tests’ potentially ill effect on fish will be glossed over in the review process that is close to completion.

“There are fisheries impacts that are not very well understood, and now is the time to do these reviews,” said Zachary Lees, ocean and coastal policy attorney for Clean Ocean Action, a New Jersey-based nonprofit group.

Eight companies are currently seeking to conduct seismic surveys in areas off the southern Atlantic coast between Delaware and Florida to look for oil and natural gas resources. Although oil leases in the Atlantic have been canceled until at least 2023, the federal government is moving forward with mapping the sea floor for hydrocarbon deposits.

After approving a final programmatic environmental impact statement, or PEIS, on seismic surveys in 2014, BOEM was made aware earlier this year of new information on protected marine mammals that triggered additional review.

Read the full story at CoastalReview.com

NEW JERSEY: Coastal Advocates Laud Obama Decision Not To Allow Drilling Offshore

March 16, 2016 — In a victory for coastal advocates, the Obama administration yesterday decided not to open up portions of the Atlantic seaboard to offshore oil and gas drilling.

The announcement reverses a draft proposal to open up millions of acres in the mid-Atlantic and south Atlantic by auctioning off tracts for drilling, a plan environmentalists and state lawmakers here feared would threaten New Jersey’s billion dollar tourism economy.

No drilling would have occurred off the Jersey coast or the outer continental shelf, but opponents worried that a spill off Virginia where leases were to be offered for sale could adversely effect New Jersey’s coastal environment and economy, already hard hit and not fully recovered from the devastation of Hurricane Sandy.

“It’s a great day for the Atlantic Ocean and the thousands of citizens who fought to protect the coast,’’ said Cindy Zipf, executive director of Clean Ocean Action. “The sea is spared from oil drilling and the horrific consequences that Big Oil brings — pollution, spills, and industrialization.’’

In releasing a five-year program for oil and gas leasing offshore, Sally Jewell, secretary of the Department of the Interior, said the proposal allowing sales to occur in the Gulf of Mexico and off the coast of Alaska shelved a proposed sale in the mid-Atlantic and south Atlantic.

Read the full story at NJ Spotlight