Several Florida Republicans joined Democrats on Thursday in balking at President Donald Trump’s proposed offshore drilling plan, slamming the potential environmental and economic impacts of a plan that would open up more of the eastern Gulf of Mexico — also known as the Gulf of America — as well as the entire California coast and new areas of the Arctic to leasing.
Florida, which is controlled by a strong Republican majority, has long opposed any encroachment of oil rigs closer to the sandy shores that are critical to its tourism-based economy. Similarly, Democrats in charge of California vowed to grind any lease sales to a halt in the Golden State through legal and regulatory action.
The plan unveiled by the Interior Department on Thursday includes an offshoot into the eastern Gulf, closer to Florida’s coast than leases have been allowed in the past and a political land mine for the state’s elected officials.
The proposal also includes the entire California coast, a blue state where offshore drilling is deeply unpopular and the last federal lease sale occurred in 1984.
“We just can’t afford to even give anybody an inch,” said Rep. Vern Buchanan (R-Fla.), who represents a district situated between Sarasota and Tampa.
“I think that’s probably one of my biggest issues since I’ve been in Congress, which has been for a while, is no drilling off the beaches. And the reason being is it affects not only the value of homes and real estate, it affects tourism and more importantly, it’s just bad for the environment,” he said.
Another Florida Republican, Rep. Gus Bilirakis, who serves on the Energy and Commerce Committee, said he needs to study the plan more closely but doesn’t want any further encroachment.
“My position has always been we don’t like drilling off the coast,” said Bilirakis, who represent a coastal district north of Tampa.
He said he would “take a look” at the so-called buffer zone offered by Interior in the plan, but warned it may not be enough. Any lease sales appear to be at least 100 miles from the coast of Florida, according to maps provided by the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management.
“That might not be enough. … I’ll take a look at that 100-mile buffer zone, but I want to take a look at it, and you know we got to protect the coasts,” Bilirakis said.
Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) also weighed in Thursday. Scott, while stopping short of condemning the plan, said he had expressed to Interior Secretary Doug Burgum that Florida must remain off limits.
“I have been speaking to [Burgum] and made my expectations clear that this moratorium must remain in place, and that in any plan, Florida’s coasts must remain off the table for oil drilling to protect Florida’s tourism, environment, and military training opportunities,” he said in a post to the social media site X.
Sen. Ashley Moody (R-Fla.), the author of a bill to permanently ban drilling off the coasts of Florida and several other states, was more blunt about the threat of the new plan. Similar legislation from Florida Republicans is pending in the House.
“The new maps released today … outlining potential new offshore oil drilling sites in the Gulf of America are HIGHLY concerning — and we will be engaging directly with the department on this issue,” Moody wrote on X. “We must act quickly, and I’m urging my colleagues to support my American Shores Protection Act TODAY to ensure oil rigs stay off our beaches.”
Democrats vow a fight
At a Capitol Hill press conference dominated by California Democrats, the lawmakers vowed to slow the plan’s implementation until they retake power.
“Every time big oil tries to force its way back into California, we stand up and fight and we are ready to begin that fight to do it again,” said California Rep. Jared Huffman, the top Democrat on the House Natural Resources Committee. “There’s no way we’re gonna let this happen to our beautiful California coast on our watch.”
The move to reopen drilling off the coast of California, where oil and gas operations have retreated in recent years, has been widely viewed as a barb at Gov. Gavin Newsom (D). Newsom is seen as a front-runner in the 2028 Democratic presidential primary and is a top Trump foil.
Rep. Jimmy Panetta (D-Calif.) said the state will rely on strategies that have kept rigs off the California coast in the past.
“We put up legal, logistical and political barriers that stalled the proposals, and we protected our coastal treasures,” Panetta said.
“We are ready and willing to go toe to toe with any president, with any corporation, with anybody who threatens our beauty and bounty and the coastal economies of the great state of California.”
Reporter Kelsey Brugger contributed.
