Pentagon Says Atlantic Offshore Drilling is National Security Threat; Menendez, Booker, Pallone Stress Ongoing Need to #KillTheDrill

WASHINGTON, DC – Following strong opposition from the Pentagon on Atlantic offshore drilling, U.S. Senators Bob Menendez and Cory Booker (both D-NJ) and Congressman Frank Pallone (NJ-06) today continued to urge the Department of the Interior to remove its inclusion of the Atlantic Ocean in its Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) Oil and Gas Leasing Program (Five Year Program) for 2017-2022. The Five Year Program, which was announced in January 2015, allows for oil and gas exploration in a portion of the Mid- and South Atlantic planning areas, encompassing areas offshore of Virginia, North and South Carolina, and Georgia. The third phase of the plan – the Proposed Program – is expected to be announced by the Administration later this week.

The Pentagon says Atlantic offshore drilling could hurt military maneuvers and interfere with missile tests the Navy relies on to protect the East Coast, according to The Washington Post. Department of Defense spokesman Matthew Allen said: “Live training exercises are conducted off the Atlantic Coast from unit level training to major joint service and fleet exercises. These live training events are fundamental to the ability of our airmen, sailors, and marines to attain and sustain the highest levels of military readiness. Additionally, [the Defense Department] conducts major systems testing activities in the mid-Atlantic region that are also important to military readiness.”

“The Pentagon’s opposition to Atlantic offshore drilling today emphasizes that the plan to drill off our East Coast is misguided for economic, environmental and national security reasons,” said Sen. Menendez. “It would be troubling if during this time of global turmoil our executive branch decides to take any action that would handicap our military readiness. People up and down the East Coast want safe, pristine beaches and the American people deserve the best military training systems possible. We should heed the warnings of the Department of Defense and once and for all kill the drill.”

“Offshore drilling and fossil fuel exploration of any form in the Atlantic Ocean is an economic and environmental threat to New Jersey,” said Sen. Booker. “The concerns outlined by the Defense Department today are just another reason why the Atlantic should remain closed to drilling. I will continue to advocate for our shoreline and shore communities by fighting against efforts to drill for oil and other fossil fuels in the Atlantic.”

“The Pentagon’s concerns regarding drilling in the Atlantic are yet another reason the Department of the Interior must reevaluate its proposal,” said Rep. Pallone. “In addition to the devastating environmental and economic impact, a spill would severely disrupt critical military training and testing operations that the Navy conducts to help keep our country safe. New Jersey residents, businesses, environmental experts and now our military have all stood in opposition to this plan and it is essential that the Department of the Interior take these voices into account.”

In January 2016, Sens. Menendez and Booker and Rep. Pallone were joined by over 100 local leaders, environmental and tourism groups, Jersey Shore business owners and residents at a rally on the Asbury Park boardwalk to demand action to guard the Atlantic against offshore oil and gas exploration. The federal lawmakers cited the massive 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico that caused long-term marine and coastal damage in several Gulf States and said a similar incident in the Mid-Atlantic would still threaten New Jersey’s coastline.

The Obama Administration had previously proposed opening the Atlantic to oil and gas exploration in 2010, but Sen. Menendez, Rep. Pallone, the late-Sen. Frank Lautenberg and former Rep. Rush Holt (N.J.-12) were successful in convincing BOEM to abandon those plans. In that case, a similar report from the Department of Defense was issued, stating that the proposed lease sale off the coast of Virginia would interfere with the Navy's Virginia Capes Operating Area, a critical military training and testing area.

In addition to possible military readiness threats up and down the coast, also at risk are over $700 billion in coastal properties and a tourism industry that generates $38 billion a year and directly supports almost half a million direct and indirect jobs, or nearly ten percent of the state’s entire workforce. New Jersey’s vibrant commercial fishing industry generates over $7.9 billion annually and supports over 50,000 jobs. The state also has one of the largest saltwater recreational fishing industries in the nation.

Sen. Menendez and Rep. Pallone wrote the Clean Ocean and Safe Tourism (COAST) Anti-Drilling Act, co-sponsored by Sen. Booker, which would ban oil and gas exploration, development, or production in the Atlantic Ocean. Sens. Menendez and Booker also joined several other East Coast Senators last month in introducing the “Kill the Drill: Anti-Atlantic Offshore Drilling” amendment to the Energy Policy Modernization Act in the Senate, which mirrors the COAST Act.

Sens. Menendez and Booker and Rep. Pallone have kept the pressure on the Obama Administration since it first proposed to include the Mid- and South Atlantic in its latest five-year energy plan. In June 2014, Menendez and Pallone stood on the Asbury Park boardwalk to warn the community of the negative economic and environmental impacts of offshore drilling in the Atlantic to the Jersey Shore.

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