Updated below with new comments from a South Jersey lawmaker supporting Obama's plan.
WASHINGTON – Several New Jersey lawmakers blasted an Obama administration plan Tuesday to allow offshore oil drilling in the Atlantic, saying their state and others along the coast would be at risk of significant damage from any spills.
While the proposal would open up offshore drilling in an area from Virginia to Georgia, New Jerseyans worried that any spills would damage their state's tourism and fishing businesses, its environment and economy.
Sen. Robert Menendez (D., N.J.) said many along the Jersey shore are still recovering from Superstorm Sandy.
"The last thing that these people need is the threat of a man-made disaster from an oil spill on top of a natural disaster, and that threat is very real," Menendez said at a news conference. "Oil companies don't need another hand out. They don't need another gift from the federal government."
At the same event, Sen. Cory Booker (D., N.J.) said "the benefits from this would be narrowly applied to the oil industry, while New Jersey and our partner states on the Atlantic would face that threat, that sacrifice … this to me is unacceptable."
UPDATE: But a South Jersey Republican who represent a significant stretch of shoreline in Ocean County said he was "pleased" with Obama's proposal.
"American energy independence is both possible and necessary, and I'm pleased that President Obama is taking this step today towards getting us there," U.S. Rep. Tom MacArthur (R., N.J.) said in a news release. "While this is just the beginning of a long process, I am hopeful that the president and this administration will remain committed to making offshore exploration and production a reality, specifically in areas where there are proven resources and there is a reasonable distance from our coastal communities."
An aide later added, though, that MacArthur opposes drilling off of the Jersey shore.
Congress does not have a direct role in the proposal and cannot formally block it, so it's not clear if lawmakers will be able to stop the plan. Opponents said they hoped to build pressure on the administration to change course.
Menendez and Booker were joined by Sen. Benjamin Cardin (D., Md.) and Edward Markey (D., Mass.), though not, notably, by senators from Virginia or Georgia. Governors from several southern states have advocated for opening up drilling off their shores.
Despite the distance from those states to New Jersey, Garden State lawmakers raised the specter of the 2010 BP oil spill in the gulf, which affected a swath of states.
U.S. Rep. Frank LoBiondo (R., N.J.), whose district stretches from Atlantic City south to Cape May, wrote on Twitter that he opposes drilling off of New Jersey -- "our tourism, businesses & pristine beaches are not worth risk," -- though he did not comment on drilling along other parts of the coast.
Environmentalists joined in the criticism, while oil companies cheered the administration proposal, saying it would open up new resources.
Despite the proposal, it may be a decade or more before drilling begins, Bloomberg News reported.
Before the proposal can take effect, the Obama administration will have to listen to public comments.
U.S. Rep. Frank Pallone (D., N.J.), from the shore, said the value of the oil in the Atlantic, "in no way makes up for the damage that would be done to the tourism industry" in the event of a spill.
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