When it comes to any proposal to drill for oil off the coast of New Jersey, and more specifically off the coast of Monmouth County, the county’s Board of Freeholders will not be champions for the project.
In a resolution passed Feb. 8, the freeholders went on the record with their opposition to a Jan. 4 proposal put forth by Ryan Zinke, the secretary of the U.S. Department of the Interior, to open the Atlantic seaboard to offshore drilling.
The freeholders said “the potential damage from an accident or incident would be catastrophic to the shoreline, tourism industry and residents of the county.”
The members of the county’s governing body said they support proposals in the state Senate and Assembly to ban such activities.
According to the freeholders, the Senate and Assembly have “pre-filed legislation prohibiting offshore oil and gas exploration, development and production within the state’s borders.”
In their resolution, the freeholders said “the Jersey Shore is an integral component of a $38 billion tourism industry in New Jersey … the 27 miles of (Monmouth County’s) coastal shoreline do not include tidal areas in the various bays and rivers affected by the health and environmental quality of the ocean waters … (we) do hereby oppose, in the strongest of terms, any offshore oil or gas drilling off the coast of New Jersey and, more particularly, the coast of Monmouth County.”