A Campaign for All of Us
What has been termed as an unprecedented massive industrial assault proposed to the ocean, Clean Ocean Action (COA) has revived the Clean Ocean Zone (COZ) legislative campaign developed years ago for a federal law to protect the life off the New Jersey coast and lock-out harmful industrialization and pollution.
The campaign was launched in Seaside Park, the “middle of the Jersey Shore” this week and was welcomed by Mayor John Peterson, Seaside Park, Trisha DeVoe, a naturalist; and ocean advocacy speakers including concerned citizen Leslie Mangold.
Kicking the campaign off with a press conference on the beach at Funtown Beach in Seaside Park, there was an afternoon Campaign Open House to educate and motivate citizens to become “Ocean Rebels for the COZ.” The day concluded with an evening Call to Action at the water’s edge.
The campaign kick off, originally planned for World Ocean Day June 8th, Clean Ocean Action rescheduled the event due to dangerous air quality conditions in the region. The nonprofit organization, based in Long Branch, noted “every day is ocean day” for ocean advocates.
For more than 40 years, Clean Ocean Action has led a campaign to end ocean dumping, reduce pollution and garbage wash ups, and blocked numerous proposals for oil and gas drilling, and other fossil fuel projects.
“We have come a long way and the ocean is now thriving. Everyone knows the ocean is key to the health of the planet, but few know a healthy ocean is also the planet’s best buffer against climate change. Sustaining a healthy ocean is the key to solving climate change,” said Cindy Zipf, Executive Director, Clean Ocean Action. “Yet threats not only remain but are growing at a reckless pace. Massive industrialization at an unimaginable scale now threatens the health of the ocean and the clean ocean economy,” Zipf added.
Clean Ocean Action identified some of the state and federal actions that have caused alarm and the need for a strong comprehensive law to protect the ocean, including President Biden’s Executive Order calling for 30 gigawatts (30,000 megawatts) of offshore wind by 2030 along with fast-tracking implementation without transparency, due diligence and good science; the Administration’s Ocean Climate Action Plan, for ocean injection of carbon, mining, and massive scale aquaculture and ocean confined animal feed lots, the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 (IRA) which ties offshore wind development (OSW) to offshore oil and gas development and other issues.
“While some elements of these programs do help address climate change, such as greener infrastructure, energy reduction may do so by undermining the health of the ocean, the overall drive is to industrialize the ocean at an unsustainable scale.” said Zipf.
“Whales are a powerful weapon in the fight against climate change. We need to protect the ocean and save our whales now!” said Trisha DeVoe, Conservation Biologist and founder of SaveOurWhalesNow.org.
The Clean Ocean Zone was launched as a campaign against old, new, and renewed threats and continues to call for a pilot project to determine the true impacts of offshore wind industrialization.
The organization will be reaching out to federal and state elected officials to inform them of the new campaign. More information is forthcoming, but the organization has the many action steps available at CleanOceanAction.org for the public to complete and share.
