New Jersey officials and environmental groups urged President Obama to reinstate a moratorium on gas and oil exploration along the Atlantic Coast, after the president canceled a proposed deal to allow drilling off the Virginia coast today in reaction to the oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico. The agreement would have allowed oil drilling to begin 50 miles...
In this image released by the US Coast Guard, response boats work to clean up oil where the Deepwater Horizon oil rig sank on April 22, 2010. The mobile offshore drilling platform was engulfed in flames after an explosion April 20. New Jersey officials and environmental groups urged President Obama to reinstate a moratorium on gas and oil exploration along the Atlantic Coast, after the president canceled a proposed deal to allow drilling off the Virginia coast today in reaction to the oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico.
The agreement would have allowed oil drilling to begin 50 miles off the Virginia coast by 2012. Obama also canceled an August lease sale in the western Gulf, delayed planned exploration off the coast of Alaska and ordered a six-month extension on a moratorium he imposed on deepwater oil drilling after the BP Deepwater Horizon oil rig in the Gulf blew up last month.
The steady stream of crude that has been spewing from the well has been designated the worst spill in history by federal officials."President Obama took an important step today to halt the most imminent environmental threat to the Atlantic coast. However, the danger will remain until drilling in the Atlantic is taken off the table altogether," said U.S. Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.). "We need a permanent ban on drilling in the Atlantic, tightened regulations, and a real push to find clean energy alternatives to oil."
Obama had lifted the moratorium on Atlantic Coast oil and gas drilling in March to allow drilling and seismic studies from the coast of Delaware, about 10 miles southwest of Cape May, to central Florida. Northern waters of Alaska were also opened to exploration.
While the president has stalled his policy since the Gulf spill, he did not reverse it today, frustrating some environmentalists.
"We need to reinstate the moratorium, and impose a moratorium on all the coasts. The spill in the Gulf, just the amount on the surface, is four times the size of New Jersey," said Cindy Zipf of Clean Ocean Action, an environmental group.
Through spokesman Michael Drewniak, Gov. Chris Christie re-iterated his demand for maintaining a moratorium.
"Given the environmental tragedy that continues to unfold with the BP oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico, it is a prudent and necessary step by the president," Drewniak said. "Like all New Jerseyans, the Governor is sickened by the environmental devastation we’re witnessing. I think we can all imagine the horrifying impact to our own coastline had this occurred on the eastern seaboard."