Gov. Ron DeSantis on Friday reiterated what is bipartisan opposition in Florida to a White House plan to open waters off the state’s Gulf Coast to oil drilling.
The U.S. Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management on Thursday proposed opening federal waters about 100 nautical miles off the west coast of Florida and the entire coastline of California to oil drilling as early as 2029.
DeSantis said he hoped the Trump administration would stand by a 2020 decision that the Department of the Interior made to protect waters in the eastern Gulf.
“What the Interior Department is proposing to do is really to go back off that policy, and I think that would weaken protections that we worked very hard to establish offshore,” DeSantis said during an appearance at Bayside Kraft Kitchen in Crystal River. “Yes, part of it is environmental. But part of it is military training. If you go talk to our folks up in the Panhandle who are stationed there, they will say it’s really important to be able to have that access, to be able to do key training. So, we hope that they double down on the 2020 policy and not push ahead with what Interior wants to do now.”
Florida’s Republican-dominated congressional delegation, with memories of the 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster, repeatedly pushed back against oil-drilling attempts during Trump’s first term.
On Thursday, seven Republicans in the congressional delegation sent a letter expressing concern that areas potentially up for lease are within the Eastern Gulf Test and Training Range, which could “impact the critical missions at Eglin Air Force Base, Hurlburt Field, Tyndall Air Force Base and Naval Air Station Pensacola.”
Meanwhile, Florida Democratic Party Chairwoman Nikki Fried said in a statement, “Our sensitive, pristine natural environments are not up for auction to the highest bidder.”
