‘Hands Across the Sand’ this Saturday at the Jersey Shore

A global event that promotes a clean energy future and opposes new offshore drilling is this Saturday.

“Hands Across the Sand” will bring together people at three locations at the Jersey Shore, with crowds gathering in Bradley Beach, Atlantic City, and North Wildwood. More information about the rain or shine event can be found here. 

According to Hands Across the Sand organizer Dave Rauschkolb, groups will join hands for 15 minutes at noon in their respective time zones, forming lines in the sand, or on land, against dirty fuels. 

A local environmental leader says this year’s event is important even though the Obama administration removed the Atlantic Ocean from its offshore drilling plans for the next five years.

“Seismic testing is still occurring off our coast. These practices help the oil and gas industry retrieve information so they can drill later. Without a permanent end to offshore drilling in the Atlantic Ocean, New Jersey is still vulnerable to an oil spill. That is why it is so important to help defend our coast and join Hands Across the Sand this year,” said Jeff Tittel, New Jersey Sierra Club director.

Some executives in the energy industry were not surprised by the reversal of the administration, which had originally touted the plan as part of its overall strategy to expand safe and responsible domestic energy production.

“The president didn’t reverse course on his offshore plan because he never intended to allow energy production off the Atlantic coast,’’ said Thomas Pyle, president of the Institute for Energy Research, an industry trade group.

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Tom Johnson of NJ Spotlight, a NewsWorks partner, contributed to this report.