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Washington, D.C. --- U.S. Rep. Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ), lead sponsor of the COAST (Clean Ocean and Safe Tourism) Anti-Drilling Act, assailed U.S. Sen. John McCain's dramatic flip-flop on offshore oil drilling in the following statement.
For years, McCain has supported an existing moratorium on leasing activities off both the east and west coasts. Today, however, the supposed "maverick" senator announced that he now supports lifting the moratorium.
The New Jersey congressman's COAST Anti-Drilling Act would permanently end the periodic threat to inventory parts of the Outer Continental Shelf as a first step towards offshore oil or gas drilling.
"Whatever happened to the 'maverick' Senator McCain? In an apparent attempt to secure the support of the Big Oil interests, Senator McCain flip-flopped today on an issue critical to the residents of New Jersey and other coastal states.
"By caving in to Big Oil, Senator McCain is saying New Jersey's environment and economy are not a priority. All it takes is one incident of industrial pollution to seriously jeopardize our shoreline, and that is why we simply will not support oil rigs off our coast.
"Senator McCain also ignores the fact that nearly 80 percent of oil and 82 percent of natural gas believed to exist on the Outer Continental Shelf is located in areas already open to leasing. Yet, only 10 million of the 44 million leased offshore acres are actually producing oil or gas. If Big Oil really believed we could drill our way to lower gas prices, why aren't they drilling in the other 34 million acres? Senator McCain should tell his buddies in Big Oil to explore drilling options in these already-leased areas and leave our coast alone."
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