[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 20 (Thursday, February 16, 2006)]
[Senate]
[Page S1433]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. MENENDEZ (for himself and Mr. Lautenberg):
  S. 2316. A bill to amend the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act to 
permanently prohibit the conduct of offshore drilling on the Outer 
Continental Shelf in the Mid-Atlantic and North Atlantic planning 
areas; to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources.
  Mr. MENENDEZ. Mr. President, I rise today with my colleague from New 
Jersey, Senator Lautenberg, to introduce legislation designed to 
protect our State's coastline from the threat of encroaching oil and 
gas development. The Clean Ocean and Safe Tourism Anti-Drilling Act, or 
COAST Anti-Drilling Act, bans oil and gas drilling off the New Jersey 
shore, and in the entire Atlantic seaboard from Maine to North 
Carolina.
  This bill is necessary because of last week's publication of the 
Minerals Management Service's, MMS, draft 5-year plan for the Outer 
Continental Shelf, which proposes to open the waters off the coast of 
Virginia to oil and gas leasing in 2011. In some places, this means 
drilling less than 75 miles off the coast of New Jersey. While the MMS 
may believe you can assign a part of the ocean as belonging to a 
certain state, oil spills will not respect those boundaries. Seventy-
five miles is more than close enough for a spill to affect the New 
Jersey shore, potentially devastating our beaches and the state's 
critical tourist economy.
  According to the New Jersey Commerce and Economic Growth Commission, 
tourism is a $22 billion dollar industry in the State, responsible for 
more than 430,000 jobs, over 10 percent of the total jobs in the State. 
To risk all of that, and the coastal economies of every State along the 
Atlantic coast, for what is estimated to be a fairly small potential 
reserve of oil and gas is simply not worth it.
  The MMS recently released new estimates for recoverable oil and gas 
in the outer continental shelf, and the entire Atlantic seaboard adds 
up to less than 6 percent of the nation's estimated OCS gas reserves, 
and less than 3 percent of the oil reserves--barely a 6-month supply. 
And that's from Maine to Florida, so the area off any individual State 
will be a small fraction of that.
  This is not an issue of trying to lower the price of natural gas, or 
making the United States more energy independent. This is about 
protecting New Jersey's environment and economy. This is about 
protecting the coastline where New Jersey families live, work, and 
play. I look forward to working with my colleagues from neighboring 
States, and from States around the country, to ensure that our beaches 
are protected for generations to come.
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