[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 150 (2004), Part 3]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 3508]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




         RECOGNIZING THE 20TH ANNIVERSARY OF CLEAN OCEAN ACTION

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. RUSH D. HOLT

                             of new jersey

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, March 4, 2004

  Mr. HOLT. Mr. Speaker, Clean Ocean Action, an organization dedicated 
to the protection of the coast of New Jersey and Long Island, 
celebrated its 20th anniversary on February 26th.
  When COA was formed, there were eight ocean dumping sites off the 
coast of New Jersey and Long Island where all kinds of pollutants were 
dumped--sewage, dredge spoils, industrial waste, even toxic waste.
  COA made it their primary goals to close these sites and find 
environmentally-friendly alternatives to ocean dumping. This was the 
time when New Jerseyans were first becoming aware of the serious 
consequences of ocean dumping--the impacts on marine life, the fishing 
industry, tourism, and the health and safety of the countless residents 
and visitors who enjoy the Jersey shore every summer.
  Thirteen years later, COA achieved these goals when then-Vice-
President Gore announced an agreement closing the dumping sites and 
creating the Historic Area Remediation Site to remediate the effects of 
the dumping.
  COA, under the noteworthy leadership of Cindy Zipf, has not rested on 
its laurels, however. Today, they continue to take steps to protect the 
shore from leading beach cleanup efforts to lobbying Congress. I worked 
closely with them to fight against provisions slipped into the energy 
bill that would reverse the progress made towards keeping our shores 
clean.
  COA marked its 20th anniversary by announcing an effort to create a 
Clean Ocean Zone off the coasts of New Jersey and Long Island, 
permanently protecting the ocean that is so valuable to New Jersey 
residents.
  I salute COA for 20 years of hard work and effective work, and I 
would like to take this opportunity to bring to the attention of my 
colleagues this success towards cleaning up our shore areas. Now is not 
the time to reverse the progress of the last two decades.

                          ____________________