White House Reversal Nixes Oil Drilling Off Atlantic Coast

By David Madden

WASHINGTON DC (CBS) -- The Obama Administration has done an about face, and will not allow for oil drilling off the Atlantic coast.

The decision was announced in a tweet from Interior Secretary Sally Jewell saying the move "protects the Atlantic for future generations."

While the oil rigs would have been located off shore from Virginia to Georgia, New Jersey lined up in opposition to the idea from the start.

"Usually they take a position and they ignore public opinion and they ignore the facts as they present themselves," South Jersey Republican Congressman Frank LoBiondo told KYW Newsradio. "So I am taken by surprise."

Over and above the environmental concerns, the main argument from New Jersey's perspective centered on the potential damage an oil spill might do to the state's tourism industry. "The evidence is that there are really not large reserves off the east coast and the potential damage to be done is far greater than any gain to be received."

The Garden State branch of the Sierra Club issued a statement praising the reversal saying, in part, "If they could drill off Virginia, they may have come to drill in New Jersey next."