Saving Seafood

New Jersey: Murphy Signs Bipartisan Legislation to Protect NJ’s Coast from Perils of Offshore Drilling

April 26, 2018 — TRENTON, N.J. — Taking swift action to ensure the environmental health and safety of the state’s coast and shoreline, Gov. Phil Murphy signed bipartisan legislation that bans offshore oil and gas exploration and its production in New Jersey’s ocean waters. The bill also prohibits the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) from issuing any permits and approvals for the development of any facility or infrastructure related to offshore drilling within or outside of New Jersey waters.

“Offshore drilling would be a disaster for our environment, our economy, and our coastal communities,” stated Murphy in a release. “The bipartisan legislation I am signing into law, on the eighth anniversary of the Deepwater Horizon Spill, will block oil companies from drilling in state waters. We simply cannot allow the danger of drilling off our coast. The societal, economic and environmental costs would be detrimental to the overall quality of life for our residents.”

In addition, the bill requires DEP to review any proposed oil or natural gas development in the Atlantic region of the U.S. exclusive economic zone to determine if the proposal can reasonably be expected to affect New Jersey waters.

Read the full story at the Cape May County Herald

 

Trump Drilling Plans Raise Concerns Over Discarded Poison Gas, Nuke Waste

April 24, 2018 — The Trump administration’s proposal to open large tracts of seabed off the South Carolina coast to oil and gas exploration has drawn a sharp rebuke from a statewide business advocacy group concerned about the thousands of unexploded bombs, poison gas and radioactive waste that were dumped in the planned exploration zone.

In a written a statement submitted to the National Marine Fisheries Service and the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Frank Knapp of the South Carolina Business Chamber of Commerce, said oil and gas exploration off the coast would increase the risk of disturbing long-dormant hazards and contaminating marine life harvested by fisherman up and down the east coast.

“We have a tremendous stake in our coastal economy and environmental health of ocean and coast,” said Knapp, the chamber’s chief executive officer.

Read the full story at the Courthouse News Service

 

New Jersey Blocks Offshore Drilling

April 24, 2018 — New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy has signed bipartisan legislation that bans offshore oil and gas exploration and its production in the state’s waters last Friday. The bill, A-839, also prohibits the Department of Environmental Protection from issuing any permits and approvals for the development of any facility or infrastructure related to offshore drilling within or outside of New Jersey waters.

In addition, the bill requires the Department of Environmental Protection to review any proposed oil or natural gas development in the Atlantic region of the U.S. exclusive economic zone to determine if the proposal can reasonably be expected to affect New Jersey waters.

New Jersey does not technically have any control over drilling in federal waters, but the state does have jurisdiction over three nautical miles extending off the coast. By banning drilling in those waters, the state has effectively blocked the construction of any supporting infrastructure such as pipelines or terminals.

Read the full story at the Maritime Executive

 

New Jersey: Murphy signs offshore drilling ban into law

April 20, 2018 — POINT PLEASANT, N.J. — Gov. Phil Murphy on Friday signed a ban on offshore drilling in state waters, just before the start of Earth Day and Earth Week festivities and on the anniversary of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill off Louisiana.

The law prohibits any drilling or activities or infrastructure that supports offshore drilling from happening in state waters, which run from the shoreline to 3 miles out.

That means the state would not allow any facilities that would support drilling in federal waters, according to co-sponsor state Sen. Jeff Van Drew, D-Cape May, Cumberland, Atlantic.

States including New York, California, South Carolina and Rhode Island have introduced similar bills, Washington state is considering one and Maryland introduced a bill imposing liability on anyone who causes a spill.

Read the full story at the Press of Atlantic City

 

Massachusetts: Offshore Oil Drilling Sparks Early Opposition on Martha’s Vineyard

April 18, 2018 — Island environmental groups and state legislators are strongly opposing a plan by the Trump administration to open up North Atlantic waters to offshore oil and gas exploration.

The five-year drilling plan announced in early January by the U.S. Department of the Interior calls for drilling along East Coast federal waters from Georgia to Maine, including waters off Massachusetts.

The Martha’s Vineyard Commission has gone on record early against the idea of drilling.

“Opening our coast to drilling and the potential for a dangerous spill is a reckless threat to our region,” wrote MVC executive director Adam Turner in a recent letter to Gov. Charlie Baker. “Any oil spill, even in a limited quantity, will have serious consequences to the Island and the region.”

Mr. Turner said he wanted to make it clear to the governor early on that the commission is opposed to the proposal.

“I’m concerned about what safeguards are in place to avoid an oil spill or contamination in the water,” Mr. Turner said. “What’s the impact on wildlife?”

Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey has also opposed the plan, saying that the drilling could threaten the state’s $7.3 billion fishing industry and 1,500 miles of coastline and raising the prospect of taking legal action.

Read the full story at the Vineyard Gazette

 

New Jersey Ready to Ban Offshore Drilling, Thwart Trump Plan

April 13, 2018 — TRENTON, N.J. — New Jersey is prepared to thwart President Donald Trump’s plan for offshore oil and gas drilling by enacting a ban on such activity or its supporting infrastructure in state waters.

The state Assembly gave final legislative approval Thursday to a measure banning not only drilling in state waters, but any activity that supports it, such as pipelines and docks.

The bill now goes to the desk of Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy, who has repeatedly voiced opposition to the drilling plan.

New Jersey is one of numerous coastal states adopting such tactics as a back-door way to thwart the Republican president’s drilling plan in their areas.

Although it would take place in more distant federal waters, the state bans effectively block the drilling plan by preventing anything related to drilling from being built in state-controlled waters closer to shore.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at US News

 

Interior secretary: ‘Opposition’ to offshore drill plan

April 9, 2018 — PLAINSBORO, N.J. — Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke on Friday acknowledged there is “a lot of opposition” to President Donald Trump’s plan to open most of the nation’s coastline to oil and gas drilling.

Speaking at a forum on offshore wind energy in Plainsboro, New Jersey, Zinke touted Trump’s “all of the above” energy menu that calls for oil and gas, as well as renewable energy projects.

But he noted strong opposition to the drilling plan, adding there is little to no infrastructure in many of those areas to support drilling.

“There is a lot of opposition, particularly off the East Coast and the West Coast, on oil and gas,” Zinke said.

He said on the East Coast, only the Republican governors of Maine and Georgia have expressed support for the drilling plan, which has roiled environmentalists but cheered energy interests. Maine Gov. Paul LePage has endorsed the plan, but Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal has hesitated to take a public position on it.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at the Washington Post

New Jersey: Bill to ban oil, gas drilling in state waters passes Senate

March 27, 2018 — Bipartisan legislation to ban offshore drilling in state waters and to prohibit infrastructure there from supporting drilling in federal waters off New Jersey, was approved 37-0 on Monday by the state Senate.

“This is a back-door way of blocking the offshore drilling that would be allowed by the federal action,” said co-sponsor Sen. Jeff Van Drew, D-Cape May, Cumberland, Atlantic. “We control the first 3 miles at the state level, so we will use that authority to try to hinder or block drilling along the Jersey coast, which is vital for the fishing industry.”

President Donald Trump has proposed opening up drilling in federal waters along the Atlantic Coast. State waters run to three miles out, and federal waters from three to 200 miles out.

The Shore Tourism and Ocean Protection (STOP) from Offshore Oil and Gas Act (S-258/A-839) had already passed the Assembly and now goes to Gov. Phil Murphy’s desk. Murphy, an opponent of offshore drilling in the Atlantic, is expected to sign it.

Co-sponsor Sen. Chris Brown, R-Atlantic, said protecting the environment is not a Republican or Democrat issue.

“All of our Atlantic County families, retirees and our local economy depend on us protecting our beaches and waterways,” Brown said. “It simply makes sense to preserve our $44 billion tourism economy and our commercial and recreational fisheries for our children and grandchildren.”

It would prohibit offshore drilling in state waters and ban the leasing of tidal or submerged lands in state waters for oil or natural gas production, exploration or development.

Read the full story at the Press of Atlantic City

 

Opposition to offshore drilling hardening in Massachusetts

March 19, 2018 — BOSTON — Opposition to a Trump administration proposal to allow oil and gas drilling in coastal waters, including those off the Atlantic coast of Massachusetts, continues to grow on Beacon Hill.

Just this week, Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey announced she’s considering taking legal action against the administration to protect “the people, economy and natural resources of Massachusetts from the grave risks posed by unprecedented oil and gas leasing.”

“Despite concerns from the fishing industry, clean energy developers, marine scientists and thousands of residents up and down the coast that depend on a healthy ocean, this administration has repeatedly ignored the serious economic and environmental risks of offshore drilling,” Healey said as she filed comments with the U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management opposing the plan.

Healey isn’t alone.

Fellow Democratic attorneys general from a dozen coastal states, including neighboring Rhode Island and Connecticut, have also written Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke protesting the drilling plan.

Other critics include Republican Gov. Charlie Baker, Democratic U.S. Sen. Edward Markey and the state’s entire Democratic congressional delegation as well as members of the fishing and tourism industries and environmental groups.

Zinke continues to defend the plan, which faces fierce opposition in states along the entire West Coast and much of the East Coast. Florida was dropped from the plan after the state’s Republican governor and lawmakers pointed to risks to the state’s tourism business.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at the Boston Globe

 

MASSACHUSETTS: AG Healey pledges to fight Trump offshore drilling plan along coast

March 14, 2018 — BOSTON — Attorney General Maura Healey on Monday vowed to fight federal plans to open the Massachusetts coastline to offshore oil and gas drilling.

“Massachusetts does not want drilling off our coast and I will fight this proposal to defend our state and our residents,” said Healey in a statement. “Of all the bad environmental ideas the Trump administration has proposed, this one may take the cake.”

President Donald Trump and Department of Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke in January announced a plan to offer federal energy leases in most of the nation’s offshore waters, including the North Atlantic planning region stretching from Maine to New Jersey.

The BOEM proposes two such leases within the North Atlantic Outer Continental Shelf, starting in 2021 and 2023.

Healey filed formal comments with the U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management on Friday. She argued that aside from the risk of oil spills, drilling would conflict with state and federal imperatives to reduce carbon emissions. She said the exploration and extraction is not needed to meet America’s energy needs. Healey said she would consider a legal challenge if necessary.

Read the full story at MassLive