Robert Menendez

Menendez, Lautenberg Announce More Than $2.4 Million To Protect New Jersey's Coast

Federal Funds Will Support Barnegat bay, Other NJ Coastal Areas

July 27, 2012

WASHINGTON, D.C.—Today, U.S. Senators Frank R. Lautenberg (D-NJ) and Robert Menendez (D-NJ) announced more than $2.4 million in federal funding to protect New Jersey's shoreline through the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).  

"New Jersey's coastal areas are critical to our state's environmental quality and economy," said Lautenberg, a member of the Commerce, Justice, Science Appropriations Subcommittee, which funds NOAA.  "This federal funding will help the state protect threatened areas like Barnegat Bay and address pollution and rising sea levels in coastal areas throughout the state." 

“The Jersey Shore is a priceless treasure, but the tourism and fishing revenue it brings in also makes it an economic engine,” said Menendez. “This grant will help protect these areas from pollution and erosion, but will also protect New Jersey jobs.”

This federal NOAA grant will support New Jersey's Coastal Zone Management Program (CZM), with funding for regulatory and pollution programs while also providing support for local projects that improve coastal management.  These initiatives include ocean and management planning for Barnegat Bay as well as projects that support the Hudson River Waterfront Walkway and the Meadowlands.

Senators Lautenberg and Menendez have continually fought to protect New Jersey's coastline and fund NOAA's James J. Howard lab in Sandy Hook, which conducts important research on pollution's environmental effects along New Jersey's coastline.  They were successful in securing language to prohibit closure of the lab in legislation that was passed by the full Appropriations Committee in April.

###