The Interior Department has removed the federal waters off the Atlantic coast from President Donald Trump’s upcoming offshore drilling plan after Republicans in the region pressed to keep oil and natural gas rigs away from their shores, three people familiar with the latest moves told POLITICO.
The five-year leasing plan, aimed at reopening areas long closed to drilling, will still seek to allow rigs off the California coast, said the people, who were granted anonymity to discuss private deliberations. That could create a conflict with Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom, who is trying to raise his national political profile in a state that opposes offshore drilling but also has some of the highest gasoline prices in the country.
The plan’s latest iteration will also include a portion of the eastern Gulf of Mexico but provide a buffer around Florida, a Republican stronghold where politicians from both parties have long opposed drilling, these people said. It’s unclear whether the buffer would be large enough to avoid fierce objections from Floridians, who have battled against similar proposals in past decades because of fears that an oil spill would devastate their tourism economy.
Interior is expected to propose the new plan any day now, these people said. The proposal could still change before made public and then will have to undergo a review process before becoming final.
