Oil Port: An Unpopular Choice

EDITOR'S NOTE: This article Is the last of a twopart series on proposed plans for use of the Delaware Bav. DELAWARE BAY - On a clear day you can see boats forever on the Delaware Bay. They bob lazily on the placid waters verdant with fish and shellfish. To many an area fisherman there is no better place to be and no heller pasttime to indulge than fishing the bay. But, two proposed uses of the hay: a bridge crossing from New Jersey to Delaware, or creation of a deepwater oil port, could have a marked effect on the bay and the lifestyle on its shores. The waters remain clouded on which if either option is feasible or desireable, but to proponents on both sides the direction the future of the bay should take is very clear. The idea of a bridge spanning the bay most likely from around Towns Bank to Lewes or Milford, Delaware has drawn mixed reaction from area businessmen, residents and public officials. The creation of an oil port seems to have few supporters on either side of the bay. The Delaware River and Bay Authority (DRBA) has commissioned a two-fold study on potential uses of

the bay without prejudice toward either option, DRBA director’William J. Miller told the Herald and Lantern Wednesday. "We don’t have any predisposed notions of what should be done with the bay. We’re trying to look at all the alternative,” Miller said. The study, conducted by consultants Arthur D. Little Inc. of Cambrdlge, Mass, and the URS Corp. of New York City should be* 1 cpmpleted next month and available to the public by November or December, Miller said. Preliminary results of the study find the bav bridge concept infeasible, Miller confirmed. "Economically it (the bridge) wouldn't fly," the director said. The DRBA is concerned about the possible effects of an oil spill from an oil port, Miller said. But, he pointed out, preseilt lightering operations in the bay have the some potential for environmental problems. "That’s one reason we’re asking them (the consultants) to look Into this for us," Miller said. "All we’re asking the consultants to do is look at what has been done with the bay, whaf is being done now and what can be done in the future," Miller concluded. Interim results of the study concerning the oil port have deemed it in-

feasible also, James R. Hurley Assemblyman for District I, Cape MayCumberland County said Tuesday. "At the two-thirds point, the preliminary results indicate the consultants are not going to recommend the Delaware Bay be used as the site of a deepwater port," Hurley said. / Hurley has corner out firmly against the creation of a port. "An effort several years ago to sell the same ideas met with effective ofe position. After the trodbcing the oil port proposal received them, both at home and in Trenton, opponents had believed the idea had been laid to rest.” Hurley said he is opposed to (’ on port for three reason: "All evidence proves it Is r.ot feasible, it is a threat to tourism, and it is a threat to shellfish," Hurley said. The likelihood of an oil spill in the bay which is not deep at all, but in fact a shallow body of water generally ranging from seven to 12 feet deep, could be disasterous to the beach centered economy of Cape May County, Hurley said. Oil tankers currently use an anchorage area in the bay for transshipment of oil from tankers to barges that carry it upstream to refineries. A proposed deep water port would involve linking

pipelines with the port area, carrying oil directly ,to refineries. It could also mean the construction of refineries and heavy Hndustry on the shore area. The concept of such development and its shores enthusiasm by the Cape May County Planning Board. "The position of the Planning Board to this and ^ther oil port plans has been one of opposition," Robert Myers, Planning Board member said. The Planning Board is mainly concerned with the threat of an oil spill which would be aggravated by the enclosed and shallow nature of the bay, Mayers said. Collisions and grounding of tankers are a prime concern, he added. Area “biological resources including surrounding wetlands are extremely sensitive to an oM spill," the planner said. In addition, the resort economy would be in jeopardy if an oil spill occurred, Myers said. The Planning Board’s second objection to the port is a high potential lor high density industrial development. Such industrial development servicing the oil port would include “heavy smokestack industry” and could include oil tank farms and refineries, •Myers said. "This would be Incompatible to the resort

community nature of Cape May County,” he added. t Cape may County Freeholder Gerald Thornton reflected on actions taken by the Board of Chosen Freeholders and the Planning Board in post years to minimize the likelihood of an oil spill in Cape May County. "In 1972, proposals for a deep water oil port in Delware Bay dramatized the conflicts between tanker related oil spills and the fragile coastal resources that are the bedrock of our recreationtourism economy,’’ Thornton sal<j. "We weighed the issues carefully, found that the port and its ^associated impacts were grossly Incompatible with our economic 'base and environmental resources, and then vigorously opposed the oil port por posal," he added. The probability of an oil spill is too high, the ability to contain it too low and the potential for damage to coastal resources, including the suilf clam and commercial fisheries resources is too severe, Thornton said. . County officials are not anti-oil, the freeholder

said.

Offshore Oil exploration and development is supported as long as it is offshore and not near shore. Proper and adequate

Feeling At Horne With County History

COURT HOUSE - The second of two tours of Old Houses of Cape May County held in 1979 by the Cape May County Art League will be on Saturday, September 22, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. The 19 houses, churches, and • public buildings to be opened on this date are all located to the central and

northern portion of the County. Mrs. Raymond Dixon of Deimisville is Chairman. This tour, like the earlier tour that was held in July in the southern part of the County, is also planned to conserve gasoline as much as possible. There will be four buildings open in Cape May Court House, the

One Building On This Weekend’s Tour Is The Friend’s Meeting House In Seaville

County seat, and the eight buildings in Dennisville are within walking distance of each other. Two houses will be open for the first time ever on the Tour. The Ephraim Hildreth House on Route 9, Rio Grande was built circa 1722 and has been in the same family since the Revolution. The James Stites House in Dennisville, with %tlve cedar siding, 1 was buluin 1847. Originally there wefb only two rooms, and three rooms were added when the house was restored in 1978. The James House in Dennisville has been opened twice before during the process of restoration and this year will be shown with the restoration completed. The tiny Samuel Buck House, 1780, and the Hetty Hand House, 1845, both on Mechanic Street, Cape May Court House, are back on the tour after several .WrtrtW’V.."/./.'

Works by local artists will be shown at Calvary Baptist Church, Route 9, Ocean View, and the Cedar House on Delsea Drive in South Dennis. The fjjst building on Route 9, traveling South, will be Seaville Friends’ Meeting, dating back to the fearly 1700’s. It has appeared on every one of the

league’s 31 Annual Tours. Tickets are $5 and can be obtained on Tour Day at most of the houses and at

the*

,League headquarters, 1050 Washington Street, Cape May, phone (809) 8848628. For further information write: Old House Tours, Box 365, Cape May Court House, N.J. 08210.

The Samuel Buck House In Court House Is Also On The Tour

safeguards must be observed in any drilling expedition, Thomtoqsaid. The County went to court to temporarily block the first oil lease-sale in the Atlantic Ocean in 1976. County government actively supported the passage of the Outer Contenental Shelf (OCS) I^nds Act Amendments in 1977 and 1978. “That legislation provided many of the safeguards we had sought through the courts. It required the use of the best available and safest technology, required proper oil crew training standards and created compensation funds for oil damaged fishery and resort-related activities," Thornton explained. After passage of the OCS law the Planning Board received a federal grant to evaluate the engineering requirements and safety provisions of the new law. Marine engineering consultants are now nearing the completion of that

study.

Another federally funded study to be initiated this fall will examine methods to further minimize the. potential for tanker-related oil spills in Delwawre Bay by improving aids to navigation in the shipping channel, Thornton said. Meanwhile, yet another study ordered by New Jersey Energy - Commissioner Joel R. Jacobson will determine the potential impact of offshore oil development and the oil port idea on the Jersey shore tourist economy with special emphasis on Cape May. Assemblyman Hurley called the 8219,000 study a

waste.

"How many studies are enough? How much money do the state and federal governments want to waste?" Hurley said. "As far as Cumberland and Cape May are concerned, an oil port and tourism would make a very doubtful marriage," the assemblyman said. "With the fullest faith in the integrity of all concerned I still cannot avoid expressing the hope to you that the relatively massive funding does not hold any foregone conclusions," he

added.

Hurley said he is very much interested in the bridge alternative. "I’d love to see it happen. I think it would be dynamite if feasible," A bay bridge would radically boost the Cape's r ( ^Pqge 13Please)