What is this guy Bush think that he's doin'?? Leave MY beaches and MY rivers ALONE!! DAMN IT!!

.. I think I'll write a letter..

********************************************************* The federal government has taken a step toward allowing exploration for oil and natural gas off the Eastern Seaboard by requesting proposals to study the idea.

The request for proposals specifically mentions a site off New Jersey, and environmentalists view the study as the next step in a plan to allow offshore drilling and turn back the clock on a decadelong ban on mining for those resources off the Jersey Shore.

"It (offshore drilling) allows you to do something wrong to the environment," said Thomas Fote, legislative chairman for the Jersey Coast Anglers Association. "It's the only reason why we need a study. . . . What they're going to try to do is justify it."

A spokesman for the federal government's Minerals Management Service said last night a study does not necessarily mean the federal government has decided permit offshore drilling.

Rep. Frank J. Pallone Jr., D-N.J., disagreed. "I think the Bush administration is trying to find examples of where they can drill, and I don't want (New Jersey) to be the example of where they can drill," said Pallone, a longtime opponent of offshore drilling.

President Bush has made it clear he wants the United States to produce more petroleum domestically to help keep prices in check and reduce reliance on foreign oil.

The study would examine the socioeconomics and environmental effects of drilling along the coast from Cape Hatteras, N.C., to the border with Canada, according to the Minerals Management Service's published solicitation for contractors to conduct the study. It would take about 18 months and cost between $300,000 and $350,000.

"The northern U.S. Atlantic seaboard . . . has not been extensively drilled nor developed for potential oil and gas reserves," according to the solicitation. "However, there are areas with some reservoir potential, for example, off the coast of New Jersey."

Earlier this month, environmentalists joined Pallone in protesting plans by the Department of the Interior to consider five sites for offshore drilling where it had been banned. Yesterday, some said the study is a sign this region is being considered.

"As far as we're concerned with respect to oil and gas drilling (the Bush administration has) declared war, and the people that want the coast protected are ready for the fight," said Cindy Zipf, executive director of Clean Ocean Action, an environmental organization based in Sandy Hook.

New Jersey's comeback from the late 1980s, when medical waste washed up on its beaches, flattening the tourist market, could be threatened by any plans to drill off the coast, said opponents of the study. Last year, tourism in New Jersey generated $30 billion in revenue -- $3.7 billion in Monmouth and Ocean counties.

"That whole effort, that whole enterprise, would be put in jeopardy by this shortsighted push," said Bill Wolfe, policy director of the Sierra Club's New Jersey Chapter.

But Michael Baugher, a spokesman for the Minerals Management Service, said a study does not necessarily mean exploration or drilling will take place. "It is not an automatic thing," he said.

A spokeswoman for U.S. Sen. Jon S. Corzine, D-N.J., said the idea should not even be considered. "Basically, this is unacceptable, and we need to put an end to this before it's started," said Julie Roginsky.

Zipf said the push was the result of an "oil-hungry" administration with ties to the oil industry. She said that any oil or gas that may be found off the Jersey Shore is "puny" compared with revenues generated by tourism and ecological resources.

"Make no mistake, oilmen are in charge of the country right now, and they're going to seek out and find every opportunity to find and exploit oil reserves no matter where they are, no matter what the consequences," she said.

Published on June 20, 2001

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