Booker Leads Senators in Letter Urging Obama Administration to Stop Harmful Seismic Blasting

WASHINGTON, DC — U.S. Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) and 17 of his colleagues sent a letter to President Obama opposing seismic airgun testing, which has proven to be harmful to commercial and recreational fisheries in coastal communities and negatively impact a wide range of marine species. Sen. Booker was joined by Sens. Bill Nelson (D-FL), Edward Markey (D-MA), Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Barbara Mikulski (D-MD), Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), Ben Cardin (D-MD), Al Frankin (D-MN), Jack Reed (D-RI), Robert Menendez (D-NJ), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Bernie Sanders (D-VT), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Maria Cantwell (D-WA), Patrick Leahy (D-VT), Barbara Boxer (D-CA), and Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH).
“We appreciate your Administration listening to the millions of coastal citizens, businesses, and fishermen who spoke up to protect their coastal ways of life. Notwithstanding this decision, however, BOEM has indicated that it will proceed with the seismic permitting process, reviewing applications by industry to shoot tens of thousands of miles of seismic line during the first year of activity alone. With the Atlantic Ocean withdrawn from the Proposed Program, seismic airgun blasting is unnecessary and should not proceed,” the senators said.
The letter follows the passage of the Methane Hydrate Amendment which Sens. Booker and Menendez introduced that will prohibit funding for seismic testing for methane hydrate in the Atlantic Ocean, including off the New Jersey coast. The amendment was included in the Energy Policy Modernization Act of 2015 which passed in the Senate this month. ‎ Methane Hydrate, a form of natural gas, is estimated to have 25 times more global warming potential than carbon dioxide over a 100 year period.
In Feb., Booker, Menendez, and Rep. Frank Pallone (D-NJ) rallied with New Jersey public officials and about 200 local business owners and residents in Asbury Park to demand the federal government withdraw proposals that would allow oil and gas exploration in the Atlantic Ocean. The Bureau of Offshore Energy Management (BOEM) had included portions of the Mid-Atlantic Ocean as an area identified for oil and gas drilling in its next 5-year Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) Oil and Gas Leasing Program, but subsequently bowed to pressure and dropped the Mid-Atlantic from the plan.