One policy area where advocates for both business and the environment can agree is offshore oil drilling.
NJBIA joined with Congressman Frank Pallone, D-NJ, earlier this week for a press conference on banning oil drilling off of the New Jersey coast. As NJBIA Vice President for Government Affairs Frank Robinson explained, the ban is necessary to protect New Jersey’s $45 billion a year tourism industry.
“It would be devastating if we had an oil spill here on the Jersey shore,” Robinson said at the Long Branch boardwalk press conference, “not only to the economy, but especially to the environment.” See NJTV’s report here.
Pallone’s office said the Jersey Shore is home to over $700 billion in coastal properties, and the tourism industry generates almost half a million jobs, nearly 10% of New Jersey’s entire workforce. New Jersey’s commercial fishing industry generates over $7.9 billion annually and supports over 50,000 jobs. New Jersey also has one of the largest saltwater recreational fishing industries in the nation.
“It’s good news that my amendment to ban offshore oil and gas exploration along the Atlantic Coast passed the House,” said Pallone, who is the chairman of the House Energy & Commerce Committee. “It’s now time for the Senate to take up the underlying legislation, because we need to protect our shores from the Trump administration’s dangerous offshore drilling plans.”
