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Pallone Applauds House Passage of Permanent Offshore Drilling Ban

September 11, 2019

Pallone advocated on House Floor for permanent moratorium on oil and gas exploration

Washington, D.C. – Today, Congressman Frank Pallone, Jr. (NJ-06) applauded House passage of a permanent offshore drilling ban along the Atlantic and Pacific Coasts. H.R. 1941, the Coastal and Marine Economies Protection Act, would place a permanent moratorium on oil and gas exploration in the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans' outer continental shelves.

"I stand here today to condemn any attempt to drill along the coast. The coastal communities in my home state of New Jersey depend on a healthy ecosystem to thrive, and an oil spill would threaten the economic vitality of the Jersey Shore and communities up and down the Atlantic and Pacific Coasts. We must protect our shores from the Trump Administration's dangerous offshore drilling plans," Congressman Pallone said. "I would like to thank Chairmen Grijalva and Lowenthal and Congressman Cunningham for their leadership on this important issue."

An oil spill in the Atlantic would devastate coastal communities and wildlife. In New Jersey, the tourism industry generates $44 billion a year and supports over half a million jobs. The Jersey Shore is home to over $700 billion in coastal properties, and the tourism industry generates almost half a million jobs - nearly ten percent of the state's entire workforce. New Jersey's commercial fishing industry generates over $7.9 billion annually supporting over 50,000 jobs and has one of the largest saltwater recreational fishing industries in the United States.

Pallone has served as a longtime champion of offshore drilling bans. In January, he introduced the COAST Anti-Drilling Act that would ban offshore drilling in the Atlantic. In April, he wrote to Secretary David Bernhardt at the Department of Interior to ask him to permanently abandon plans to conduct offshore oil and gas exploration. In July, he successfully achieved the passage of an amendment that bans the use of taxpayer money to fund offshore gas and oil drilling.