Florida’s political leaders and environmental advocates are pushing back against a new White House plan which could open the eastern Gulf of Mexico to offshore oil and gas drilling.
It is a significant shift from a decades-long bipartisan consensus in Florida to keep oil rigs away from its coastlines. The announcement comes after a yearslong fight by coastal communities, resulting in a state ban on drilling in the Apalachicola River, which was signed by Gov. Ron DeSantis in June.
Adrianne Johnson, executive director of the Florida Shellfish Aquaculture Association, said the local victory was crucial but the new federal threat puts everything at risk again.
“Without good water quality, we don’t have commercial shellfish production,” Johnson pointed out. “Our farms would not be able to operate.
And so, a move of this sort would be devastating for the working watermen and women that depend on clean water.”
Offshore drilling plan
In early November, Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., and Sen. Ashley Moody, R-Fla., the state’s former Attorney General, announced the introduction of the “American Shores Protection Act,” federal legislation intended to block the administration’s plan. Johnson noted her group supports the bill, just as it backed the state-level ban on Apalachicola River drilling.
J.P. Brooker, director of Florida conservation for the Ocean Conservancy, also quickly condemned the plan in a prepared statement, calling it a “terrible step backwards.”
“Again and again, we’ve said that we don’t want drilling off the coast of Florida and now is no different,” Brooker stressed. “We are united in our voices to gather to make sure that this doesn’t happen and this doesn’t become a reality. And we want to make sure that Florida’s beaches stay clean and healthy forever.”
The strong opposition from across Florida’s economic and political spectrum highlights the continued perils of proposing offshore oil and gas development. But it is yet to be seen whether the opposition will deter the Trump administration.
The oil industry has been seeking access to new offshore areas, including off Southern California and Florida, as a way to boost U.S. energy security and jobs.
