Gov. Chris Christie is applauded as he announces his opposition to LNG facilities off the coastline on Earth Day 2010. JACQUELINE HLAVENKA While Gov. Chris Christie’s veto of an offshore LNG facility safeguards the coastline for now, ocean advocates say they will continue to work for permanent shore protection in the form of federal legislation.
“The governor’s veto, although it was specific to this project, it was very clear that he does not believe liquefied natural gas is in the interest of New Jersey,” Cynthia Zipf, executive director of Clean Ocean Action, said last week. “We know that for at least the next three years, we have a lifeguard in the Statehouse and he is going to reject these types of proposals.”
Zipf said her Sandy Hook-based ocean advocacy group will continue to advocate for federal legislation banning the offshore LNG facilities.
“We need federal permit legislation to make sure that these threats will no longer lurk or loom along our coast,” she said. “Now we need to move to the next level, which is the Clean Ocean Zone (COZ), which is legislation that we’ve been working on for the last 10 years.” Zipf was scheduled to be at a public meeting in Long Branch on Feb. 9 on the proposal by Liberty Natural Gas to construct and operate an offshore port to receive foreign vessels transporting LNG to the U.S. for regassification .
But the meeting was canceled after Christie, invoking his authority under the federal Deepwater PortAct, vetoed the proposed facility 16 miles off the coast of Asbury Park on Feb. 8.
“I take very seriously our obligation to protect the environmental health of our coastal waters,” Christie said in announcing the veto. “Offshore LNGposes unacceptable risks to the state’s residents, natural resources, economy and security. We must ensure that our 126 miles of shoreline remain an economic driver for tourism and that our fishing and shellfish industries remain healthy and productive now and for future generations.”
As outlined in federal filings last September and October, the proposed deepwater port would also have entailed construction of a 9.2- mile onshore pipeline from Linden to Perth Amboy and 44 miles of submerged pipeline designed to transport up to 2.4 billion cubic feet per day of natural gas from the deepwater port to shore.
Zipf said in an interview last week that the veto means that the coastline is safe for now but long-term protections need to be in place.
Among the protections the Clean Ocean Zone is focused on securing are: prohibiting new ocean dump sites, oil and gas exploration and drilling; and prohibiting the permanent extraction of natural, nonrenewable resources, including sand and gravel.
Zipf credited Rep. Frank Pallone Jr. (D-6th District) and Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ) as leaders who have been out in front on this issue. She also said that now that the LNG application is blocked, COA would work on helping to move along the legislative process.
“We need to have that federal protection,” Zipf said. “Now that this battle is over, we are going to regroup, reorganize and focus on getting that federal legislation passed.”
Another local environmentalist also weighed in on news of the veto.
“I think the governor was very clear about what New Jersey’s priority is regarding protecting the ocean,” said Tim Dillingham, executive director of the American Littoral Society. “[Christie] drew a pretty clear line in the sand that industrial facilities are not welcome off New Jersey’s beaches.”
Dillingham praised the governor for listening to the concerns of his constituents.
“This is a very clear win for the public in New Jersey who said that they did not want this, and it’s a win for the governor for listening,” he said.
Although this veto represents another victory against one of several LNG facilities proposed for New Jersey’s waters, Dillingham said that there are no regulations preventing future proposals.
“Unfortunately, the law right now allows for industry to suggest that they want to do these kinds of projects,” he said.
“Really what’s needed is a change in the law that makes it clear that they are not only unwelcome, but they won’t be approved.”
Dillingham said that he and the Sandy Hook-basedAmerican Littoral Society support the Clean Ocean Zone proposal, federal legislation that would prohibit these polluting industrial uses along the coast.
“We know what we value about the ocean, and we want to protect that,” he said.
“That piece of legislation would put those public values into law, and that’s really what’s needed to prevent industry from coming back time and time again with similar projects.”
Dillingham said the ocean should be protected for recreation, fisheries and stimulating New Jersey’s shore-based economy.
The LNG proposal was one of three that at one time threatened the coast, with applications for similar proposals off Sea Bright and Sea Girt being withdrawn last year.
Zipf looked back at last Earth Day, when Christie said he would veto all three offshore proposals, as a turning point.
“Those guys [the other two proposals] said if the governor says he’s going to veto it, then I’m not spending any more money on it,” she said. “LNG was either arrogant or in a dream world to think that the governor was not going to veto their project. This governor never, ever, ever gave a hint of wavering on this issue.”
According to Zipf, each state has jurisdiction three miles beyond its coastline into the ocean, and the U.S. Maritime Administration as well as the U.S. Coast Guard divvy up jurisdiction between states on proposals like this.
She said that in past proposals, especially the one off the coast of Sea Bright, there was a fight to get New Jersey equal jurisdiction with New York.
“We did not have equal status as New York [on the Sea Bright application], we had to fight for it,” Zipf said. “On the one offAsbury Park, for some reason the federal authorities granted NewYork equal status to us.”
She said that even though jurisdiction is equal between the two states, once Christie vetoed the proposal, the project was dead.
“One governor’s veto is all it takes,” she said. “It is their rules [Maritime Administration] that say if a governor says no, then no means no.”
Zipf and fellow activists celebrated the news at McLoone’s Pier House in Long Branch last week where owner Tim McLoone provided them with food and drink to celebrate their achievement.
“Instead of testifying against the LNG, we will be testifying how great this victory is to one another,” she said. “It affirms that when we join together, we can win against incredible odds.”
For more information on COA, visit http://www.cleanoceanaction.org.