Pallone Blasts Reported Trump Administration Plans to Expand Offshore Drilling

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 7, 2017


Washington, D.C. –Congressman Frank Pallone, Jr. (NJ-06) issued the following statement today after reports that the Trump administration is planning an executive order seeking an expansion of drilling off the U.S. coastline.

“The Trump administration’s reported plans to expand offshore drilling is just the latest development in its dangerous and reckless anti-environment agenda that threatens the future of our environment and New Jersey’s coast.

“Oil spills don’t respect state borders. The fact remains that opening up the Atlantic Ocean for fossil fuel development is unnecessary, poses a serious threat to our coastal communities, and is the wrong approach. An oil spill anywhere along the Atlantic Coast would cause severe environmental damage to fisheries, popular beaches and wildlife – which is why members of both parties have stood up against proposals to expand coastal drilling.”

Rep. Pallone has been a longtime leader in the fight to protect the Atlantic coast, sponsoring legislation since 2010 to prevent expansions of offshore drilling. Pallone wrote to the Secretary of the Interior in 2010 voicing strong opposition to a plan to enable drilling in the Atlantic. He did this even before the Deepwater Horizon disaster brought offshore drilling to the forefront of the news.

Pallone was a leader in the fight to remove a dangerous provision from the Obama Administration’s 2017-2022 Outer Continental Shelf Oil and Gas Leasing Program that would have authorized new offshore oil and gas leasing along the southern Atlantic coast. And in December, after Pallone led a letter signed by 73 of his colleagues urging a permanent ban to coastal drilling along the Artic and Atlantic coasts, President Obama exercised his authority to do just that – permanently banning offshore drilling in deep water canyons from Virginia to New England, including off the New Jersey coast, and in much of the Arctic Ocean.

Pallone Statement on Oil Slick Discovered Near Sandy Hook

Washington D.C. — Congressman Pallone released the following statement tonight in response to reports of an oil spill off the coast of New Jersey that has the potential to impact the Sandy Hook area:

“Reports of an oil slick off the coast of Sandy Hook are troubling, and I will be closely monitoring this ongoing situation. I will work with local and federal agencies, as well as the local communities, to make sure we minimize any adverse effects of the oil.

“It is critical that we find the source of the spill and take all necessary steps to ensure that our waters are not contaminated, that marine life and animals are not endangered, and that our shoreline is protected.”

History Has Proven

The following is from Congressman Rush Holt's newsletter:

Here’s an idea that would enrage many skeptics of the federal government: Let’s pay the U.S. Navy to invent a matchmaking formula.

To be more precise, let’s use federal funds to develop an algorithm to find “stable” matches: that is, to ensure that each person in a population is matched with the best possible mate who will also accept him or her.

The idea sounds wasteful, even silly, doesn’t it? Yet in 1962, supported by federal funding from the U.S. Office of Naval Research, Lloyd Shapley and David Gale created just such an algorithm. Their research may have seemed frivolous at the time, but history has proven otherwise. Their equations are now used to match donated kidneys with ailing patients at hospitals across the country.

Put more simply, their federally funded research has saved many lives.

They aren’t alone. Thomas Brock and Hudson Freeze worked together with federal support in Yellowstone National Park to study bacteria that survived the extreme conditions in the park’s geysers. Inadvertently, they discovered enzymes that helped make possible the genomics revolution.

Another researcher, John Eng, conducted federally sponsored research on the poisonous venom of the Gila Monster – and in the process helped create a drug that combats the complications of diabetes.

To me, these stories show two things: that scientific research often produces huge payoffs – and that those payoffs are often serendipitous. We rarely know exactly how a seemingly esoteric line of scientific inquiry will produce practical results, but centuries of experience show that, on the whole, the scientific endeavor dramatically improves our lives and our economy.

I recently helped honor the scientists behind these breakthroughs at the annual Golden Goose Awards. My hope is that their example will encourage our country to continue making much-needed investments in scientific research and development.

An Oil Spill By Any Other Name

Last week I found myself testifying, yet again, at a House committee hearing about the misguided and dangerous Keystone XL pipeline project. The hearing served no particular legislative purpose; rather, it was convened by the House majority as an opportunity to showboat and to repeat long-debunked boasts about the pipeline’s supposed impact.

If built, Keystone XL would transport up to 830,000 barrels per day of tar sands product – one of the dirtiest energy sources on the planet. I refer to it as “tar sands product” rather than “oil” because it is, unbelievably, not considered oil under the law that requires oil companies to pay into a trust fund that covers the costs of cleaning up oil spills. That is, if and when a spill occurs, taxpayers – not the Keystone XL operators – will be liable for the clean-up costs.

I’ve made efforts to close this loophole by proposing amendments to Keystone XL legislation, but unfortunately those attempts have been rejected by the majority.

Continuing to Serve You

As I noted to you last week, unless Congress acts in the next few days, the U.S. federal government will shut down at the end of the day on Monday.

While many federal agencies are preparing to reduce staff and services in the event of a shutdown, I and my staff in my New Jersey and Washington, D.C. offices will be available to answer your questions or concerns or if you need any assistance. Please do not hesitate to e-mail or call me at 1-87-RUSH-HOLT.

In the meantime, I will continue to work through the weekend and beyond to prevent a government shutdown, which would cause needless pain to millions of vulnerable Americans.

Sincerely,

Rush Holt
Member of Congress