Long Branch, NJ – Congressman Frank Pallone, Jr. (NJ-06) today applauded the Biden Administration’s continued moratorium on offshore oil and gas drilling along the Atlantic Coast. The U.S. Department of Interior’s Bureau of Land Management released a draft 5-year plan for oil and gas leasing. The draft does not include drilling off the Atlantic Coast, continuing a bipartisan precedent from past administrations.
“I’m glad to see that the Biden Administration continues to protect the Atlantic Coast from unnecessary and dangerous offshore oil and gas drilling. When the greedy oil and gas industry made a list of their priorities, they included drilling off New Jersey’s coast as a top goal. We cannot and will not allow that to happen. The coastal communities in my district depend on a healthy ecosystem to thrive. An oil spill would threaten the economic vitality of the Jersey shoreline and communities up and down the Atlantic Coast,” Pallone said. “There’s simply no reason to put them at risk. I’m looking forward to working with the Biden Administration to ensure we enact a permanent ban on this dangerous practice.”
Pallone re-introduced his Clean Ocean and Safe Tourism (COAST) Anti-Drilling Act in May 2021 that prohibits the U.S. Department of Interior from issuing leases for the exploration, development, or production of oil or gas along the Atlantic Coast, including the North, Mid-, and South Atlantic and Straits of Florida planning areas. President Trump rolled back attempts to subvert the existing 5-year plan and open the Atlantic to offshore oil and gas drilling after widespread condemnation from every Republican and Democratic governor up and down the Atlantic Coast.
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