Florida’s congressional delegation is sending an aggressive message to the White House as President Donald Trump weighs opening new waters to offshore drilling: Keep our state out of your plans.
The Interior Department is preparing a new five-year drilling plan that would open up swaths of long-off-limits areas of the Pacific Ocean. The move is seen as an affront to California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Trump foe.
The administration gave up on plans to open Atlantic waters in the face of Republican opposition, but it appears to be staying the course on new drilling in the eastern Gulf of Mexico, which Trump in an executive order renamed the Gulf of America. Drilling in the Gulf near the Florida coast has long been opposed by the state’s lawmakers on both sides of the aisle.
“We need to keep the moratorium the way it is,” Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) said in an interview.
Florida GOP Sen. Ashley Moody’s office offered a similar response when asked about Trump’s potential drilling plans, pointing to a bill the Republican released last week that would ban drilling in areas in the eastern Gulf and Southeast Atlantic.
“As a fifth-generation Floridian, preserving our state’s natural beauty is deeply important to me and the millions of those who call the Sunshine State home — as well as those who come to visit and vacation,” Moody said in a statement. “It is my mission to protect our state’s coastline for the next generation.”
The “American Shores Protection Act,” S. 3082, is also sponsored by Scott and Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.)
Rep. Kathy Castor, the top Democrat on the Energy and Commerce Committee’s Subcommittee on Energy, raised concerns about drilling leading to environmental devastation similar to the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill.
“Floridians voted in 2018 to prohibit oil drilling in state waters, and I’ve led bipartisan efforts in Congress since to permanently keep oil drilling away from our state,” Castor said in a statement to POLITICO’s E&E News.
“The polluters (and the politicians who do their bidding) need to get a clue — we value our communities, fishing, tourism and way of life more than oil company profits.”
The unified opposition put forth by Florida lawmakers is raising eyebrows among some conservatives who support expanded drilling.
American Energy Alliance President Thomas Pyle accused the Florida lawmakers of being unnecessarily selective with where they want to see more extraction. Drilling is highly prevalent off the coasts of other Gulf states like Alabama, Louisiana and Texas.
“American energy security must be embraced fully, not only when it occurs on someone else’s doorstep,” Pyle said in a statement. “U.S. offshore waters are part of the American energy portfolio, and many of the Members now seeking to stop development off the shores of their home states voted for this when they voted for the Big Beautiful Bill.”
The Interior Department did not respond to request for comment.
Reporters Nico Portuondo and Kelsey Brugger contributed.
