Plans for oil and gas production off the Atlantic coast have received opposition at the state level and a recent bill passed by New Jersey legislation sets new precedence. The bill not only bans drilling where the state has jurisdiction, up to three nautical miles from its coastline, but goes one step further prohibiting the development of supporting infrastructure onshore, by banning the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) from issuing necessary permits.

NJ Senate members voted unanimously, approving the bill 37 to 0, with bipartisan support. New Jersey Governor, Phil Murphy, then signed the bill into law Friday, April 20, 2018, on the eighth anniversary of the Deepwater Horizon spill.

The potential economic benefits of offshore drilling along the Atlantic coast are weighed against the threat to both coastal ecology and tourism and while New Jersey may be home to the nation's toughest laws against offshore drilling they are not alone. From Florida to Maine, state legislatures are working diligently to oppose a new federal policy that approved leasing of new coastal waterways for offshore drilling.