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Sen. Robert Menendez speaks at a Capitol press conference in January called to oppose offshore oil drilling as Sens. Cory Booker, left, and Edward Markey of Massachusetts look on.
(Jonathan D. Salant | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com)
WASHINGTON — While New Jersey's U.S. senators push for banning drilling for oil and gas off the Atlantic coast, their Democratic colleagues to the south are pushing for a share of any revenues from energy fields that the drilling discovers.
Both of Virginia's Democratic senators, Mark Warner and Tim Kaine, have joined six Republicans, Richard Burr and Thom Tillis of North Carolina, Lindsey Graham and Tim Scott of South Carolina, and Johnny Isakson and David Perdue of Georgia, in seeking legislation that would pay royalties to their states for oil and gas found off their shores.
A similar arrangement is in effect between the U.S. and Gulf Coast states such as Louisiana.
President Obama's Interior Department in January proposed allowing oil and gas drilling off the Atlantic coast of Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia. The other sites in the proposed leasing program for 2017-22 are in the Gulf of Mexico and off the coast of Alaska.
"Offshore energy exploration can be an opportunity to diversify the economy and create jobs in the mid- and south-Atlantic region, as well as a means to lessen our national reliance on foreign sources of energy," the lawmakers wrote to Senate Energy Committee Chairwoman Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) and Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), the panel's ranking member. "Our states want the opportunity to create new jobs, generate new revenue and make the United States more energy secure."
New Jersey lawmakers of both parties have challenged the proposal out of concern that an oil spill could damage a Jersey Shore still recovering from the destruction by Hurricane Sandy.
At risk, they said, are 312,000 jobs and $38 billion in economic activity every year from tourism, plus a seafood industry that supports more than 50,000 jobs, and a commercial fishing industry that delivers another $7.9 billion annually into the state's economy.
Democratic U.S. Sens. Robert Menendez and Cory Booker, joined by Rep. Frank Pallone (D-6th Dist.), asked Obama in January to remove the Atlantic coast from the list of proposed oil drilling sites. Pallone represents part of the Jersey Shore.
"We have seen from incidents in the past the devastation an oil spill or other disaster could have on shore economies, which is why the senator will continue to stand with his New Jersey colleagues against offshore drilling proposals that could hurt our state," said Booker spokeswoman Monique Waters.
Reps. Donald Norcross (D-1st Dist.) and Albio Sires (D-8th Dist.) joined those three Democrats in sending a letter to the Interior Department's Bureau of Ocean Energy Management in advance of its meeting with area residents in Atlantic City in March.
"The Jersey Shore - all 127 miles - is a unique treasure," the lawmakers wrote. "While drilling is not authorized directly off the Jersey Shore, oil spills do not respect state boundaries and the proposed Virginia lease areas are only 90 miles from Cape May."
And Rep. Frank LoBiondo (R-2nd Dist.), whose district includes Atlantic City, has introduced legislation to ban drilling within 125 miles of the state's coastline. Reps. Rodney Frelinghuysen (R-11th Dist.), Leonard Lance (R-7th Dist.) and Chris Smith (R-4th Dist.) are co-sponsors.
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Jonathan D. Salant may be reached at jsalant@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @JDSalant. Find NJ.com Politics on Facebook.