Three Republican senators from the Southeast introduced a bill recently to bar drilling off the coasts of three states, just as the Trump administration is weighing whether to open up offshore drilling along U.S. shorelines.
The “American Shores Protection Act,” S. 3082, introduced by Sens. Ashley Moody (R-Fla.), Rick Scott (R-Fla.) and Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), would “prohibit oil and natural gas exploration, development, and production in certain areas of the outer Continental Shelf off the coast of Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina.”
The bill would codify a moratorium President Donald Trump put in place near the end of his first term, which bans offshore drilling off those states through 2032, including in the eastern Gulf of Mexico.
“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 press release. “It is my mission to protect our state’s coastline for the next generation.”
