State leaders must stand against drilling plan.
A plan the Trump administration unveiled this week to allow offshore drilling in previously protected waters in the Atlantic and eastern Gulf of Mexico is a dagger aimed at Florida’s fragile coastal environment and tourism-based economy. State leaders in both political parties must close ranks to ensure oil rigs don’t get any closer to Florida’s shores.
Early signs are promising. Florida’s senior U.S. senator, Democrat Bill Nelson, who has led opposition for years to offshore drilling, vowed to “do everything I can to defeat” the plan. Republican Gov. Rick Scott declared his opposition and asked to meet with the administration official behind it, Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke, to discuss “the crucial need to remove Florida from consideration.”
Scott has expressed qualified support for offshore drilling in the past. He was conspicuously quiet last spring when his friend, President Trump, laid the groundwork for this week’s plan with an executive order, but the governor is now closer to entering the race to challenge Nelson in this year’s election. Whatever accounts for Scott’s current position, it’s vital to have Florida’s governor fighting on the right side of this battle.
Other Florida Republicans also are joining Democrats in sounding off, including GOP Congressman Vern Buchanan. “The Trump administration’s plan to expand oil drilling off Florida’s coastlines is reckless, misguided and potentially catastrophic to Florida,” said the six-termer from Longboat Key. We couldn’t have said it better.
For Zinke, industry leaders and others who insist offshore drilling is safe, we offer just two words: Deepwater Horizon. The 2010 explosion and fire on an oil rig 50 miles off the southeast coast of Louisiana killed 11 workers and led to the release over 87 days of more than 200 million gallons of crude into the Gulf, making it the worst oil spill in U.S. history. The crude washed up on beaches from Texas to Florida. The companies at fault were ordered to pay billions of dollars in restitution.
Yet last month the Trump administration also proposed to relax safety rules for offshore drilling that the Obama administration imposed in the wake of the Deepwater Horizon disaster, calling them too burdensome to the industry. Nelson also promised to fight this irresponsible idea. So did Buchanan.
The eastern Gulf of Mexico has been off-limits to offshore drilling since 2006, when Nelson and Florida’s other U.S. senator at the time, Republican Mel Martinez, worked together to craft a bipartisan compromise. The deal opened up millions more acres in the Gulf to oil and gas rigs, bowing to the need to exploit more U.S. energy reserves. But it also barred drilling any closer than 125 miles from Florida’s Gulf coast.
The buffer zone created under the 2006 deal was reserved for U.S. military air and sea training and weapons testing. Pentagon officials have said preserving the buffer is critical to maintaining the military’s combat readiness. So the administration’s plan to allow oil rigs within the zone wouldn’t just threaten Florida’s environment and economy; it would erode national security.
As approved by Congress, the 2006 compromise was to last through 2022. The Trump plan envisions selling drilling leases in the eastern Gulf in 2023 and 2024. Congress could make sure that won’t happen by passing a bill to extend the drilling moratorium in the area to at least 2027.
But since it’s risky to count on Congress to get anything done these days, leaders in Florida — especially Scott, who may have the most influence with Trump — need to keep up the pressure on the administration to modify its plan. If an appeal to reason doesn’t convince the president and his interior secretary, it would be helpful to remind them that voters in the nation’s biggest swing state won’t likely forget a plan that puts their environment and economy in harm’s way.