Florida congressional Republicans tell Trump to keep oil drilling off state’s coasts

WASHINGTON AP Florida s Republican-dominated congressional delegation is urging the Trump administration to drop a plan that would allow new oil drilling for the first time in decades off the state s coast A letter signed by Republican Sens Rick Scott and Ashley Moody as well as by all House members from Florida says the Interior Department plan would put the state s thriving tourism industry at liability and disrupt military operations in a key training area In you made the right decision to use executive action to extend the moratorium on oil and gas leasing off Florida s Gulf and east coasts through recognizing the incredible value Florida s pristine coasts have to our state s financial sector ecosystem and military area the lawmakers wrote in a letter Thursday to President Donald Trump The letter represents a rare pushback against the Republican president by GOP lawmakers and demonstrates how critical the state s beaches and coastal waters are to Florida s market The letter does not criticize Trump whose Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach Florida would not be affected by the drilling plan Instead lawmakers praised Trump s action during his first term when he imposed a moratorium on drilling in the eastern Gulf of Mexico through after similar pushback from Florida lawmakers to an earlier drilling plan The moratorium received overwhelming bipartisan aid the lawmakers noted We urge you to uphold your existing moratorium and keep Florida s coasts off the table for oil and gas leasing Florida s market climate and military readiness depend on this commitment they wrote Interior Secretary Doug Burgum informed a five-year offshore drilling plan last month that includes new oil drilling off the California and Florida coasts for the first time in decades The plan which critics say could harm coastal communities and ecosystems comes as Trump seeks to expand U S oil production to achieve what he calls potential dominance in the global region The oil industry has been seeking access to new offshore areas including Southern California and off the Florida coast as a way to boost U S power assurance and jobs The federal regime has not allowed drilling in federal waters in the eastern Gulf of Mexico which includes offshore Florida and part of offshore Alabama since because of concerns about oil spills California has various offshore oil rigs but there has been no new leasing in federal waters since the mid- s The drilling proposal drew bipartisan pushback in Florida where a spokesperson for Republican Gov Ron DeSantis stated the Trump administration should reconsider Scott the state s senior senator reported in a post on X Friday that he is proud to lead Florida s entire congressional delegation in asking POTUS to continue his commitment to keeping Florida s coasts off the table for oil drilling A spokeswoman for the Interior Department revealed in an email that while we do not comment on congressional correspondence through the media the Department of the Interior takes all correspondence from Congress seriously and attentively reviews each matter Interior is accepting society comments through late January on the drilling plan which includes as multiple as expected offshore lease sales nationwide by That includes sales off the coast of Alaska seven in the Gulf of Mexico and six along the Pacific coast New drilling off the Florida coast would be at least miles from shore in a newly designated South-Central Gulf region adjacent to thousands of wells and hundreds of drilling platforms in the central Gulf of Mexico Source