Offshore Oil Drilling Receives Uniform ‘Thumbs Down’

RIO GRANDE – Stone Harbor Mayor Suzanne Walters and Vicki Clark, president, Cape May County Chamber of Commerce, briefed members on several issues potentially detrimental to the local economy at the March 19 meeting at Rio Station.
“I attended the (March 18) forum on offshore drilling in Atlantic City,” said Clark. “It was very, very alarming,” in February, “the (Chamber of Commerce) board reinforced its position in opposing offshore drilling by renewing a resolution that has been longstanding for over 30 years. I also attended Clean Ocean Action’s public comment period held next door to the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management session. A lot of information has yet to come out on this.”
Clark said the hearing was told if the drilling were to come about, it would likely not be until 2030 or 2032.
“However we cannot go to sleep at the wheel. We have to remain vigilant and keep our eyes on this ball because there will be a lot of people supporting it for various reasons. But the chamber has endorsed the position that this is bad for the industry, it would be bad for the quality of life here,” Clark said.
Chamber’s Opposition
Part of the chamber board’s resolution stated, it “has recently been proposed by the U.S. Department of Interior in its Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) Oil and Gas Leasing Draft Proposed Program for 2017-2022. While this proposed draft allows for oil and gas exploration in a portion of the Mid- and South Atlantic planning areas offshore Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia, the Cape May County Chamber of Commerce considers any drilling along the Eastern Seaboard as dangerous to our quality and life and local economy. As stated in the Chamber’s position, “due to current flow and natural movement of ocean waters, an oil spill in the Atlantic Ocean would not occur in isolation and would cause catastrophic damage to a fragile and priceless ecosystem. Cape May County is located at the most southern tip of New Jersey whose economy is driven by beach tourism, ecotourism and aquaculture, each of which would be devastated in the event of a drilling disaster.”
Tourism and Economic Development Committee
Mayor Suzanne Walters, who chairs the Tourism and Economic Development Committee also addressed the gathering on the same topic.
“I have to say Vicki was kind. Yesterday, elected officials were told this was to be a public hearing, and then at the last minute, we found out it was this dog-and-pony show put on by the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management. So Clean Ocean Action had a citizens’ forum where people actually could speak. Sen. (Robert) Menendez and Sen. (Cory) Booker, (both D-NJ), Congressman (Frank) LoBiondo (R-2nd) and (Congressman Frank) Pallone (D-6th) all sent representatives that spoke against this. We have to stay on top of this and make sure this doesn’t happen,” said Walters.
“When they showed the maps yesterday, I was shocked because it is a lot closer to New Jersey than I thought it was going to be, right off the coast of Virginia. And apparently the last time this was proposed about five or six years ago Virginia was in favor of it. So we have to stay on top of it and make sure it doesn’t happen,” she continued.
“We had a meeting this month. We are trying to find where we want to go with this committee. We decided we want to go back to mentoring in the schools. Whether we go to junior high or high schools we haven’t really narrowed that down, or how we want to do it,” Walters said.
“We know we are losing our young people. We have to let them know whether it’s the hospitals, banks or retail, tourism is what makes Cape May County run. So we want to get into the schools and talk to them about it,” she said.