Environmentalists from various contingents all over the state called it a victory for ocean and sea life health.
With Clean Ocean Action at the helm, that victory against what they dubbed a Goliath methane gas project was celebrated on the Keyport waterfront on Monday by the large, broad-based coalition of organizations from the Delaware River to the sea.
After nearly eight years of permit filings and extensions, Williams Transco’s Northeast Supply Enhancement (NESE) project finally expired.
The fight to keep the ocean clean has reverted and intensified. Clean Ocean Action is rallying against what it has dubbed an “unprecedented massive industrial assault proposed to the ocean.”
Marine Academy of Science & Technology (MAST) students are an integral part of Sandy Hook clean-up Photo/Clean Ocean Action
“While Mother Nature sent us some fickle weather, there was nothing fickle about the thousands of volunteers who turned out to give the Jersey Shore beaches a nice, clean sweep — with fascinating finds”
That’s what Clean Ocean Action (COA) Executive Director Cindy Zipf had to say about the extraordinary 37th Annual Spring Beach Sweeps turnout on Saturday.
Zipf, a former longtime Rumson resident and Rumson-Fair Haven Regional High School graduate, spearheaded Clean Ocean Action decades ago and has been known as an environmental force to triumph over any clean ocean challenge.
This Beach Sweeps brought more than 5,000 volunteers to 75 beach sites along the Jersey coast from Bergen to Cape May counties.
Guided by dedicated beach captains at each site, volunteers of all ages spent the morning collecting and tabulating debris removed from shorelines, a release from COA said.
“By doing so, volunteers make beaches safer for marine life and more enjoyable for people, while also contributing the all-important data,” the release added. “The data from the Beach Sweeps turns a one-day event into a legacy of information to improve public awareness, change wasteful habits, enforce litter laws and improve policies to reduce sources of marine debris.”
The organization keeps a log of finds from the Sweeps. Dirty Dozen is one list, which encapsulates the worst and dirtiest of the finds. One list is dubbed Roster of the Ridiculous. It delineates the craziest of finds, like dentures, in each Sweep. Click here to find out what’s new on the Roster.
The proof of ocean passion is in the sweep — the resumption of the 36th Annual Clean Ocean Action (COA) Spring Beach Sweeps on Saturday.
In getting back to a shore sense of normal, the Sweeps all the way down the Jersey coastline were met with more than 5,500 volunteers who worked at 67 sites from 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. to haul debris off the beaches.
Clean Ocean Action fall Beach Sweeps/Photos by Elaine Van Develde
Our Retro Pic of the Day is meant to warm you up in more ways than one.
It’s a reminder of cozy waterfront warmth at Sea Bright beach in the midst of this wicked winter chill. And it’s a warm-up and precursor of sorts to our coming feature on Clean Ocean Action’s recent 30-year anniversary, as the featured photo is from the organization’s fall Beach Sweeps.
With the non-profit spearheaded by lifetime Rumsonite, Cindy Zipf, The sweeps have become a twice-annual environmental mainstay in the area for decades now.
Clean Ocean Action loves to let people know some of the oddest things found on the Jersey Shore beaches during sweeps. What’s the strangest you’ve ever heard of?
Stay tuned for our story. Congrats to Clean Ocean Action and Cindy Zipf!
Continue reading Clean Ocean Action: The Environmental Victory in the NESE Methane Gas Project Defeat 
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