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Pallone Applauds Obama Administration for Denying Atlantic Seismic Testing Permits

January 6, 2017

Washington D.C.- Today Congressman Frank Pallone (NJ-06) applauded the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) for denying six pending geophysical and geological (G&G) permit applications to conduct airgun seismic surveys in the Mid- and South Atlantic Planning Areas of the Atlantic Ocean. Congressman Pallone has long been a leader in the effort to stop seismic testing off the coast of New Jersey.

“Seismic testing risks injuring and disturbing critically endangered species and threatening the Jersey shore, a center of recreational and economic use. I am pleased that the Obama administration ultimately decided that these permits were not worth the risk,” said Pallone. “An environmentally sound coast is critical to New Jersey’s economy, and I remain concerned about efforts that could lead to oil and gas drilling off our coast”

Early last year, Pallone (NJ-06) and six bipartisan colleagues in the New Jersey Congressional delegation sent a letter to the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) raising serious concerns over proposed seismic testing off the coast of New Jersey. The members demanded comprehensive environmental assessments of the proposed seismic testing permits and the impact this testing could have on wildlife in the Atlantic Ocean.

Pallone also asked National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Fisheries for a public hearing on proposed seismic testing in the Atlantic Ocean that could potentially be used to open the Atlantic Ocean to oil and gas exploration. Pallone requested that the applications for seismic testing before NOAA be denied.

In October, Pallone led a letter from members of the New Jersey Congressional delegation to the NOAA, applauding the agency’s Ocean Noise Strategy Roadmap, which proposes numerous measures to reduce ocean noise, and urging NOAA to take immediate steps to implement the plan, specifically by denying seismic testing permits in the Atlantic.