Ocean Freeholders: No Offshore Drilling Here

TOMS RIVER, NJ - The Ocean County Board of Freeholders will join a long list of state officials who oppose President Trump's plan to expand offshore drilling in coastal areas, including the Jersey shore.

Members of the freeholder board said they will vote on a resolution at the Jan. 17 board meeting opposing offshore drilling.

“I absolutely am opposed to any offshore drilling of any kind off the coast of New Jersey,” Freeholder Joseph H. Vicari - liaison to the county’s Division of Tourism and Business Development - said in a prepared statement. “Drilling for oil and natural gas off our coastline would pose more problems than it would remedy.”

Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke unveiled a new proposal recently to lease huge new sections of US waters to oil and gas companies for offshore drilling — a move unlike anything seen in decades, according to a report in Business Insider.

The new plan would make "more than 98%" of the waters off the United States available for oil and gas leasing over the next five years, the federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management wrote in a report released recently.

Vicari noted that Ocean County’s tourism industry is a significant generator of economic activities for Ocean County, for the state and for the nation.

“It generates jobs, supports businesses and provides tax revenue, all of which could be endangered should offshore drilling be permitted,” Vicari said. “It doesn’t matter who proposes offshore drilling, it’s not good for New Jersey. It’s not a partisan issue.”

Ocean County saw its tourism dollars grow another 3 percent in 2016 bringing the amount tourism injects into the local economy to $4.68 billion.

Ocean County saw a five percent increase in tourism revenues in 2015 bringing the number to $4.6 billion.

A report issued by the state Division of Travel and Tourism in March 2017 noted Ocean County continues to account for more than 10 percent of all tourism dollars generated in the state.

Governor-elect Phil Murphy, Congressmen Chris Smith, Tom MacArthur, Frank LoBiondo,of Ocean County in Congress, are also all opposed to the Trump proposal.

Photo: Patricia A. Miller