There is no significant risk from offshore drilling despite what New Jersey politicians claim

Washington Post:
‘Not worth the risk’: New Jersey leads the resistance to Trump’s offshore drilling plan

New Jersey, which spent decades saving its shoreline from pollution, became the first Atlantic state to adopt a legal barrier to offshore drilling — prohibiting oil exploration in state waters, which extend three miles from shore. Its neighbors are starting to follow suit. Some estimates put the economic impact of beach tourism at $95 billion a year.
There are already plenty of incentives for offshore drilling companies to avoid spills.  In the rare occasions when it happens they are liable not only for the loss of product but also the cost of clean up. 

I have been around these rigs most of my life.  At times I raced sailboats around them and other times I have seen them from the shoreline.  My brother-in-law has worked on these rigs and is now a supervisor of several of them.  No one associated with this business wants to see an oil spill.

However, if the people who do not know much about the business want to avoid the risk, they should pay a premium of a dollar or more a gallon for gas as an incentive to see how risk adverse they are.

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