PALLONE: Block offshore drilling plan for Atlantic

Today our coast faces a number of environmental threats, but the good news is that there is still time to stop proposals for man-made environmental disasters. We have done it before, and we can do it again.

Five years ago, the Obama administration released a plan that proposed drilling off the Atlantic coast from Delaware to Florida. As a lifelong resident of the Jersey Shore, I know firsthand what a tremendous resource our beaches are, both for those who live here and for those who come to visit year after year. So I wrote to the administration expressing my staunch opposition to any inclusion of the Atlantic in its proposal.

Five days after I sent my letter, on April 20, 2010, an explosion occurred on board the Deepwater Horizon oil rig, spilling over 200 million gallons of crude oil into the Gulf of Mexico. It was an unprecedented and tragic accident resulting in 11 lives lost, and economic and environmental devastation that far exceeded what many formerly believed would be the worst-case scenario for an offshore oil accident.

STORY: New Jersey coalition to Obama: Kill the drill

STORY: Could an oil spill happen here? Plan worries lawmakers

STORY: Seismic testing OK'd in parts of Atlantic

Confronted with the worst oil spill in our country's history, the administration removed the Atlantic from its 2010 offshore drilling proposal. But just five years later, it's déjà vu all over again. The administration recently released a new proposal detailing which offshore areas should be opened to oil and gas exploration. And, once again, parts of the Atlantic Ocean — areas off the coasts of Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia — are included in the plan. This is even more troubling since the administration has also issued a final environmental review authorizing harmful seismic airgun testing between Delaware and Florida, a practice used to search for oil and gas reserves beneath the ocean floor.

As the Deepwater Horizon oil spill clearly showed, oil spills do not respect state borders. A spill anywhere in the Atlantic would cause environmental damage all along the coast. As our state continues to rebuild and recover from the unprecedented devastation of superstorm Sandy, the last thing we need is a man-made disaster from drilling off our coast.

The Jersey Shore is a priceless natural treasure and is the engine for a tourism industry that generates $38 billion a year and directly supports almost half a million jobs — nearly 10 percent of New Jersey's entire workforce. New Jersey's commercial fishing industry alone generates over $7.9 billion annually and supports over 50,000 jobs. The state has one of the largest saltwater recreational fishing industries in the nation. All of which is threatened by offshore drilling.

I was first elected to Congress on a platform to shut down ocean dumping sites that were littering Jersey Shore beaches with garbage and medical waste. The waste that washed ashore drove away hundreds of thousands of vacationers, costing our state millions of dollars in lost revenue.

If we are not vigilant, oil drilling could easily become the new ocean dumping.

Seismic testing is not only the first major step toward offshore drilling, but it also threatens to injure and kill marine species, including the endangered North Atlantic right whale. One proposal by researchers at Rutgers University to perform seismic activity off the coast of New Jersey is currently being pursued. I remain fearful of the precedent this sets and question whether the information attained could one day be used to pursue drilling right off our shore.

It is time to stop these advances against our environment. It is also important to remember that domestic oil production is at a 28-year high, net imports are at a 29-year low, and even BP said the United States, in 2013, experienced "one of the biggest oil production increases the world has ever seen." Our country's energy policy should be focused on expanding renewable production here at home, rather than jeopardizing the environment or our regional economy for the sake of more polluting fossil fuels.

I sent a letter to President Obama, along with Sens. Bob Menendez and Cory Booker, calling for the removal of the Atlantic from Obama's drilling proposal. But we need to keep the pressure on, because the choices that we make today regarding oil drilling come with a hefty price tag. And those who will be forced to pay that price are those of us who call the beach our home or rely on it for our livelihood.

We fought and successfully had the Atlantic removed from the administration's proposal before; we can do it again.

The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management is currently accepting public comments on the administration's offshore drilling proposal through March 30, 2015. Submit your comments here.

Congressman Frank Pallone Jr. represents New Jersey's 6th District in the U.S. House of Representatives.