LoBiondo Applauds Announcement Ending Potential for Offshore Drilling Near New Jersey

Obama Administration Reversed Course in Face of Overwhelming Bipartisan Opposition
WASHINGTON, D.C. — A leading voice of opposition to offshore drilling near New Jersey’s coastline, U.S. Representative Frank A. LoBiondo (NJ-02) today applauded the Obama Administration’s reversal of their intentions to open parts of the Atlantic Ocean including off the coast of Cape May County for oil and natural gas drilling. The U.S. Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management released their plan to allow offshore drilling exploration in January 2015. In March 2015, BOEM held a public hearing in Atlantic City. LoBiondo submitted a statement of opposition into the public record at that hearing.
“I have long warned against drilling in the Mid-Atlantic region, which would put at risk some of the nation’s most sensitive coastal and marine resources, including those off New Jersey. Protecting these areas means a great deal to the local residents and coastal communities who rely on our tourism economy – a $43 billion industry which supports more than 500,000 jobs – on the cleanliness of our beaches and ocean environment. Additionally, our robust commercial and recreational fisheries, some of the largest in the nation, generate over a billion dollars in revenue,” said LoBiondo. “I have been proud to the lead bipartisan opposition to efforts by Republican and Democratic Presidents to issue new drilling leases in these waters. I applaud today’s announcement and will continue to vigorously oppose drilling off of New Jersey’s coastlines.”
In 2015 LoBiondo introduced H.R. 569 which would prohibit drilling off the coast of New Jersey. He has introduced similar legislation in each Congress since 1999.