Saving Seafood

N.J. to Trump: Stay away from our ‘treasured coastal communities’

February 2, 2018 — The [Gov. Phil] Murphy administration has sent another signal to Washington that it does not want drilling off the Jersey Shore.

Attorney General Gurbir Grewal joined attorneys general from 11 other states in sending a letter to Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke on Thursday, objecting to the new plan to drill for oil and natural gas throughout federal waters.

In the letter, the attorneys general express “deep concerns” and claim that the plan represents “disregard for vital state interests, economies, and resources.”

Grewal was joined by the attorneys general of North Carolina, California, Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Massachusetts, Maryland, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island and Virginia in the letter to Zinke. Each attorney general outlines concerns specific to their states.

Read the full story at NJ.com

 

Attorneys general urge offshore drilling plan’s cancellation

February 2, 2018 — The top lawyers for a dozen coastal states want the U.S. Interior Department to cancel the Trump administration’s plan to expand offshore drilling, warning it threatens their maritime economies and natural resources.

Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey and her fellow attorneys general, all Democrats, wrote Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke on Thursday about his agency’s proposed five-year oil and gas leasing plan that opens new ocean waters.

“Not only does this irresponsible and careless plan put our state’s jobs and environment at risk, but it shows utter disregard for the will and voices of thousands of local businesses and fishing families,” said Healey in a prepared statement. “My colleagues and I will continue to fight this plan.”

Healey first announced her opposition to the plan in an August 2017 letter to Department’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management. The Northeast Seafood Coalition and the Massachusetts Lobstermen’s Association agreed with her that the Interior Department’s plan to expand offshore drilling threatens Massachusetts’ $7.3 billion commercial fishing industry — the third largest in the country — and more than 240,000 jobs in the state.

The plan also could devastate the state’s robust recreation and tourism industries, according to Healey, as well harm the state’s coastal environment and protected endangered species, including the Northern Right Whale, which feeds in the waters off of Cape Cod and Nantucket, according to the comment letter. There are only about 460 critically endangered Northern Right Whales remaining worldwide.

Read the full story at the Gloucester Times

 

Murphy restarts big offshore wind plan for New Jersey

February 1, 2018 — ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. — Governor Phil Murphy signed an executive order Wednesday to return the state to national leadership in offshore wind energy.

New Jersey will finally implement the Offshore Wind Economic Development Act of 2010, which languished under Gov. Chris Christie, Murphy said at a press conference at the Atlantic County Utilities Authority’s wind farm and wastewater treatment plant.

The law creates ratepayer-financing of wind field development through an Offshore Wind Renewable Energy Credit program. But Christie’s administration never finalized regulations to implement it, and developers have not received the approvals from the Board of Public Utilities to move forward, Murphy said.

The order commits the state to quickly generate 1,100 megawatts annually of offshore wind energy, and 3,500 megawatts of generation by the year 2030 — enough to power 1.5 million homes, according to Murphy.

“Thirty-five hundred megawatts would make us, I think, the number one aspirational wind field in the world,” Murphy said. Scale, reliability and predictability will make it possible to attract manufacturing, the governor said.

Environment New Jersey Director Doug O’Malley said New York and Massachusetts have goals of 2,400 and 1,600 megawatts, respectively.

State Senate President Steve Sweeney, a co-sponsor of OWEDA, said the plan is not just to place windmills in the ocean, but to jump-start a wind-energy manufacturing industry.

Murphy’s executive order directs the BPU to begin the rulemaking process and to work with the Department of Environmental Protection to establish an Offshore Wind Strategic Plan.

The BPU must implement a renewable energy credit program and solicit for projects to generate 1,100 megawatts of electric power.

“This is great news for the people of New Jersey and a positive step forward in bringing offshore wind to the state,” said Thomas Brostrom, president of Orsted North America. The company holds a lease to develop Ocean Wind, a project with the potential to generate 1,000 megawatts of offshore wind about 10 miles off Atlantic City.

Read the full story at the Press of Atlantic City 

 

Trump has proposed offshore drilling in the Atlantic. Here’s what it means for N.J.

January 24, 2018 — When President Trump’s administration announced plans earlier this month to reconsider drilling off the Atlantic coast, officials and community leaders up and down the Jersey Shore began digging in for a fight they thought they’d won in 2016. Here are the basic facts behind the plan and the reasons why so many groups are against the proposal.

Trump’s plan: Drill baby drill

Trump’s Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke proposed opening nearly all federal waters to offshore drilling. The federal waters would be divided into sections and then the leases to those sections would be auctioned off to oil companies. Under the proposal, 25 of the government’s 26 planning areas would be opened up for 47 potential lease sales.

New Jersey would be part of the North Atlantic section, and leases for areas off the Jersey Shore would be auctioned off in 2021 and 2023.

“Responsibly developing our energy resources on the Outer Continental Shelf in a safe and well-regulated way is important to our economy and energy security, and it provides billions of dollars to fund the conservation of our coastlines, public lands and parks,” Zinke said in a press release announcing the plan.

Who supports this plan?

Only one governor on the Atlantic Coast — Paul LePage of Maine, pictured above — has expressed approval of the plan. The Maine governor has said that he supports the plan because he believes it will bring jobs to his state and lower energy costs for Maine residents.

In a December 2013 report, the American Petroleum Institute — a group that advocates for the expansion of oil and natural development nationwide — estimated that offshore drilling could bring more than 8,000 jobs to New Jersey and bring in $515 million in revenue for the state government.

Uncertain potential for profit

Oil and gas companies could stand to profit from drilling off the Jersey Shore, but only if they find enough oil out there.

The last offshore exploration near the Garden State was in the 1970s and 1980s, when companies like Texaco and Tenneco drilled wells near the Hudson Canyon, a little less than 100 miles east of Atlantic City.

According to reports filed with the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, the exploration found no significant oil deposits and small amounts of natural gas reserves.

Has there been drilling off of the shore before?

Technically yes, but the exploratory drilling of the 1970s and 1980s was the farthest that the process has ever gotten. No lease sales have occurred in the Atlantic since 1983.

In 2017, a BOEM assessment estimated that the Atlantic contained an between 1.15 billion and 9.19 billion barrels of oil, a fraction of the estimated 76.69 billion to 105.59 billions barrels throughout all federal waters. According to the same assessment, the North Atlantic is estimated to hold between 0.06 billion and 5.11 billion barrels.

Read the full story at the NJ.com

 

Feds allege 2 men illegally trafficked baby eels in N.J.

January 22, 2018 — Two men were indicted this week on multiple federal crimes alleging they illegally trafficked young, high-priced American eels to sell to dealers or exporters.

Joseph Kelley and James Lewis, of Maine, illegally harvested young eels, which are called elvers, in New Jersey and Massachusetts, and sold them to dealers or exporters, the U.S. Justice Department alleged.

Young eels, also known as “glass eels,” can regularly fetch $1,300 per pound, according to The Boston Globe. When the 2011 Japan tsunami devastated Japan’s eel fisheries, prices reached $2,600 per pound.

“Harvesters have turned to the American eel to fill the void resulting from the decreased number of Japanese and European eels,” the Justice Department said in a statement.

But due to concerns about overfishing, every state in the U.S. except for Maine and South Carolina outlaws eel fishing, and it’s heavily regulated in those two states.

Read the full story at NJ.com

 

New Jersey: Local Politicians Against Offshore Drilling

January 17, 2018 — OCEAN COUNTY, N.J. — Local politicians expressed their opposition to a draft plan to open almost all of the U.S. outer continental shelf to oil and gas exploration and drilling.

Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke announced a Draft Proposed Program that initially included 47 potential lease sales to energy companies in 25 of the 26 planning areas – 19 sales off the coast of Alaska, 7 in the Pacific Region, 12 in the Gulf of Mexico, and 9 in the Atlantic Region.

County and federal elected officials representing the shore came out against this measure, sending press releases to media.

“I absolutely am opposed to any offshore drilling of any kind off the coast of New Jersey,” said Ocean County Freeholder Joseph H. Vicari, who serves as liaison to the county’s Division of Tourism and Business Development. “Drilling for oil and natural gas off our coastline would pose more problems than it would remedy.”

The Freeholders are expected to pass a resolution opposing offshore drilling at the board’s Jan. 17 meeting. It would be one of many resolutions that they have passed in opposition to drilling over the years.

Such drilling would seriously impact the county’s tourism industry, which brought $4.68 billion into the local economy in 2016, Vicari said.

“(Tourism) generates jobs, supports businesses and provides tax revenue, all of which could be endangered should offshore drilling be permitted,” Vicari said. “It doesn’t matter who proposes offshore drilling, it’s not good for New Jersey. It’s not a partisan issue.”

Congressman Chris Smith (R-NJ) said that New Jersey and other states with serious concerns about drilling should be exempt the same way Florida is.

“Florida is not ‘unique’ in this situation,” said Smith, who has historically been against offshore drilling here. “New Jersey—along with other coastal states—has serious concerns about the potential consequences of offshore drilling and exploration for its $8 billion commercial and recreational fishing industry and its beach tourism, which contributes significantly to its over $40 billion tourism industry.”

Since Zinke said a discussion with Florida Governor Rick Scott prompted him to leave Florida out of consideration for oil and gas, Smith said he hoped Zinke would heed similar calls from New Jersey.

Zinke said in a statement recently: “President Trump has directed me to rebuild our offshore oil and gas program in a manner that supports our national energy policy and also takes into consideration the local and state voice. I support the governor’s position that Florida is unique and its coasts are heavily reliant on tourism as an economic driver. As a result of discussion with Governor [Scott] and his leadership, I am removing Florida from consideration for any new oil and gas platforms.”

Smith said he sent a letter of opposition to Zinke signed by all members of the New Jersey Congressional Delegation.

“Economically, this proposal will impact 1.4 million jobs and over $95 billion in gross domestic product that rely on healthy Atlantic Ocean ecosystems,” the letter stated. “We urge you to reconsider opening our coast to oil and gas exploration and development. Asserting our energy independence and protecting our environment do not have to be mutually exclusive, and we must accomplish this in a way that does not compromise our coastal waters and beaches that drive our economy.”

Even a minor oil spill could wash ashore and ruin native habitats and tourism, he said. The seismic testing can be disruptive and even fatal to marine wildlife.

Read the full story at the Jersey Shore Online

 

South Jersey Times: Christie should fight hard to keep drilling ban

January 11, 2018 — With less than a week to go in office and part of his legacy on the line, Gov. Chris Christie has called out President Donald Trump over his administration’s unilateral call to open the entire East Coast to offshore energy drilling.

The possibility of drilling causing a spill despoiling the Atlantic Coast or otherwise ruining New Jersey’s tourism and fishing industries has long been a third rail of Garden State politics, uniting Democrats and Republicans alike. Past attempts to increase coastal drilling — and even President Barack Obama authorized them — generally had “opt-out” features for states, often won after protests from New Jersey lawmakers and governors.

The latest move by U.S. Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke, with Trump’s apparent blessing, to open both the Atlantic and Pacific coasts to more drilling has no specific carve-outs. A current drilling moratorium for the Atlantic coast was supposed to last until at least 2022.

With all due respect to most of the New Jersey elected officeholders who circled the wagons against the Zinke proposal, just as they had in the past: They have no juice with this president.

Read the full story at the South Jersey Times

 

N.J. leaders seek to block Trump plan for oil drilling off Jersey shore

January 10, 2018 — WASHINGTON — Three dozen Senate Democrats, including Robert Menendez and Cory Booker, asked Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke to exclude the Atlantic coast from plans to expand offshore oil drilling.

New Jersey lawmakers also questioned why drilling would still be allowed off the Garden State coast while Zinke has dropped plans to allow it off the Florida coast.

Acting at the behest of President Donald Trump, Zinke proposed opening most of the area off the U.S. coasts to oil drilling, including the Atlantic coast that currently is off limits through at least 2022.

“This draft proposal is an ill-advised effort to circumvent public and scientific input, and we object to sacrificing public trust, community safety, and economic security for the interests of the oil industry,” the 36 senators wrote to Zinke. “We urge you to abandon this effort.”

Reps. Chris Smith, R-4th Dist. and Frank LoBiondo, R-2nd Dist., signed a separate letter to Zinke in opposition to Atlantic offshore drilling.

Read the full story at NJ.com

New Jersey: Trump Saves Florida, Not Jersey Shore, From Offshore Oil Drilling

January 10, 2018 — The Trump administration exempted Florida from its plans to open the Atlantic and Pacific coasts to oil and gas drilling. But the Jersey Shore and its tourism industry won’t get the same break.

The U.S. Interior Department announced this week that it would exclude Florida and cited the potential impact on the Sunshine State’s tourism industry. Despite tourism have impact on the entire coast’s economy, however, the decision left the rest of nearly all U.S. waters, including the Atlantic, open to offshore drilling.

In a statement, Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke said President Trump, who owns the Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, directed him to rebuild the offshore oil and gas program “in a manner that supports our national energy policy and also takes into consideration the local and state voice.”

“Florida is unique and its coast is heavily reliant on tourism as an economic driver,” Zinke said. “As a result of today’s discussion and Gov. (Rick) Scott’s leadership, I am removing Florida from consideration for any new oil and gas platforms.”

The decision drew criticism from New Jersey leaders, all of whom – Republican and Democrat – universally oppose drilling off the Jersey Shore. Coastal leaders and environmentalists believe a spill anywhere in the Atlantic Ocean would cause environmental damage all along the coast.

Read the full story at the Toms River Patch

 

Coastal governors oppose Trump’s offshore drilling plan

January 5, 2018 — Governors along the Atlantic and Pacific coasts are opposing the Trump administration’s proposal to open almost all U.S. waters to oil and natural gas drilling.

Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke announced Thursday a draft proposal that would allow offshore drilling for crude oil and natural gas on the Atlantic Coast and in the Arctic, reversing the Obama’s administration’s block in those areas. It also permits drilling along the Pacific Coast as well as more possibilities in the Gulf of Mexico. Under the plan, spanning the years 2019 to 2024, more than 90 percent of the total acres on the Outer Continental Shelf would be made available for leasing.

Zinke said the Interior Department has identified 47 potential lease sales, including seven in the Pacific and nine off the Atlantic coast. That would mark a dramatic shift in policy, not just from the Obama era. The last offshore lease sale for the East Coast was in 1983 and for the West Coast in 1984.

Florida Gov. Rick Scott, a Republican and ally of President Trump, quickly said no thanks to Zinke’s plan, citing drilling as a threat to the state’s tourism industry.

Read the full story at the Washington Examiner