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Pallone Urges Administration To Abandon Offshore Drilling Plan

April 27, 2010
Washington, D.C. – U.S. Rep. Frank Pallone, Jr. the sponsor of legislation that would ban offshore drilling along the North- and Mid-Atlantic States, issued the following statement on Tuesday in response to the hearing in Newark on the Obama Administration's plan to pursue offshore oil and gas exploration along the Atlantic Coast:

"First, I am disappointed that this hearing is being held during the week when all of New Jersey’s federal representatives are in Washington and cannot attend.

"Last week, an oil rig off the coast of Louisiana caught fire and ultimately sank into the ocean. Eleven workers from this rig are still missing and feared dead. With 42,000 gallons of oil per day spilling from this ruined rig, the human and environmental casualties of this incident are tragic and appalling.

"The spill has grown to cover an area the size of Rhode Island and could reach the shore within days. Those who used to chant 'drill baby drill' have been conspicuously silent now as the oil spill makes its way to the shores of Mississippi, Alabama and Florida.

"Advocates of offshore drilling will have a hard time convincing people along the East Coast that they have nothing to fear from drilling in our waters with as they see the oil slick moving through the Gulf of Mexico towards the shorelines of three or four states.

"I am adamantly opposed to this recently announced plan that will open up broad areas of the Atlantic from Delaware to Florida for exploration and potential oil and gas drilling. An oil spill anywhere along the coast could cause severe environmental damage to fisheries, popular beaches and wildlife. Drilling off the coast of nearby states still poses a threat to New Jersey – the ocean waters don't respect state borders and neither would spilled oil.

"The fact remains that opening up the Atlantic coast for fossil fuel development is unnecessary, poses a serious threat to our shores, and is the wrong approach. I call on the Administration and the Interior Department to withdraw this plan."