BELMAR — The Belmar Borough Council met on Tuesday night and joined a cohort of other Shore towns in Monmouth and Ocean counties by unanimously passing a resolution opposing the inclusion of new offshore oil and gas leasing off the coast of New Jersey.
Belmar is the latest Shore town to voice opposition via resolution to the development of the 11th National Outer Continental Shelf Oil and Gas Leasing Program, joining Bradley Beach, Neptune Township, Lavallette and a host of other local Shore towns in their opposition to offshore drilling.
During her committee report, liaison to the borough’s environmental commission Councilwoman Caitlin Donovan said, “The federal government opened up that as a possibility and we (the environmental commission) wanted to express that we disagree with it, with both the drilling and the aesthetics of it.”
The resolution emphasizes the effect offshore drilling could have on Belmar’s economy, which “depends heavily on a healthy coastal and marine environment, supporting industries like tourism, recreation, local businesses and commercial and recreational fishing.”
Additionally, the resolution addresses “inherent risks” that come with offshore oil drilling that would negatively impact many facets of Belmar.
One of the lease areas in the program is the North Atlantic Region, which includes the outer continental shelf of the entire state of New Jersey.
“The National Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) Oil and Gas Leasing Program (National OCS Program) consists of a schedule of lease sales indicating the size, timing and location of proposed leasing activities on the OCS that the Secretary of the Interior determines will best meet national energy needs for the five-year period following the approval of a new National OCS Program,” according to the federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM).
The resolution called upon federal representatives to oppose efforts to expand offshore drilling and to support policies that protect the ocean, coast and the industries and communities that depend on them.
“The 10th National OCS Oil and Gas Leasing Program does not include any lease sales in the Atlantic Region,” according to the BOEM. “With the initiation of a new National OCS Program development process and, with it, the renewed potential for a lease sale in the Atlantic region, BOEM may receive new (geological and geophysical) permit applications in the near future.”
The public comment period for the 11th iteration of the National OCA Program ended on Monday, June 16.
GRANT AWARDS
The borough council passed three separate resolutions on its consent agenda at Tuesday night’s meeting, providing for the insertion of special items of revenue into the borough’s budget for recently received grant awards for three separate projects in Belmar.
The borough received a $230,000 grant for fiscal year 2025 from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for the comprehensive planning of the Silver Lake restoration project.
Councilwoman Donovan added that the environmental commission, along with Chief Financial Officer Lorraine Carafa and Business Administrator Kevin Kane, met with the U.S. Army Corps of engineers and discussed the potential scope of the project and how to prioritize the residents of Belmar.
Additionally, the borough was awarded a $10,000 PSEG (Public Service Enterprise Group) and Sustainable Jersey grant to assist in the funding of electrical equipment and training for the department of public works.
The third grant accepted via resolution at Tuesday’s meeting was a community energy planning grant worth $10,000 from the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities.
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