June 13, 2017 — All 14 New Jersey lawmakers in D.C. have asked President Donald Trump‘s administration to reject seismic testing in the Atlantic Ocean, a step that could lead to allowing oil drilling near the Jersey Shore.
“We are deeply concerned about the prospect of seismic testing being conducted within the Atlantic, and the damage such testing could cause to our coastal communities,” the lawmakers wrote in a letter to Donna Wieting, an official with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Marine Fisheries Service.
The fisheries service proposed earlier this month to support granting five permits for the testing, which involves airgun blasting and can harm marine life, reversing a decision made under President Barack Obama.
The agency said it would seek comments through July 7 before making a final decision on granting the permits for an area from the Delaware-New Jersey border to Florida’s Space Coast.
The delegation asked for public hearings on the permits in New Jersey and the other affected states, as well as 60 days of comments for each of the five applications.
“Coastal communities should have the opportunity to weigh in on these pending permits,” the lawmakers wrote. “Environmental groups should have an official forum to present their research into the harmful effects of seismic testing.”
One of those environmental groups, the New Jersey Sierra Club, welcomed the delegation’s action, calling it a “clear message” to Trump.
“By allowing seismic testing, Trump is actually opening up our coast to offshore drilling,” director Jeff Tittel said in a statement.
Under the Obama administration, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management in January said there was no need for the testing because the region had been placed off limits to oil and gas drilling through 2022.
In addition, Obama permanently closed off almost 6,000 square miles of ocean territory from Massachusetts to Virginia, including off New Jersey coast, to drilling.