Retiring Congressman Frank LoBiondo donates his letters and artifacts to Stockton University earlier this year. Also pictured is Stockton President Harvey Kesselman and Tina LoBiondo.
MAYS LANDING U.S. Congressman Frank LoBiondo (NJ-02) this week joined colleagues in the Congress in a bipartisan effort opposing the president's plans to allow seismic airgun blasting in the Atlantic Ocean.
Trump administration recently announced it would allow five companies to bid for the rights to conduct seismic airgun blasting in the Atlantic Ocean. LoBiondo joined Congressmen John Rutherford (FL-04), Frank Pallone (NJ-06), and Don Beyer (VA-08) in leading a bipartisan letter of 93 members of the House of Representatives opposing the plan.
Seismic airgun pulses are loud, repetitive, explosive sounds used to identify oil and gas reservoirs deep in the ocean floor. Sound travels so efficiently under water that seismic blasts can cause hearing damage, stress, and other harm to numerous aquatic species, including the critically endangered North Atlantic right whale.
According to the letter, the blasting can "disturb, harm, and potentially kill not only marine mammals but also a wide range of marine life that support coastal economies from Florida to Maine," and would negatively affect fishing, tourism and recreation.
"We hear from countless business owners, elected officials and residents along our coasts who recognize and reject the risks of offshore oil and gas development," the letter states.
Local and state governments, business organizations and those who make their living on the coastal economies, have formally opposed expansion of offshore drilling and natural gas development, according to the letter. All but two governors of states along the East and West coasts have opposed it.
LoBiondo and Beyer introduced The Atlantic Seismic Airgun Protection Act in April 2017 to halt permits for seismic airgun blasting on the Atlantic seaboard. The legislation is currently being reviewed by the House Natural Resources Committee.
LoBiondo also joined a letter led by Democrat New Jersey Senators Robert Menendez and Cory Booker on this same issue earlier this week.
12-06-18 Bipartisan House Letter on Seismic Testing
NJ Delegation Letter Seismic 12.6.18
