Trump wants to drill off Florida coast
TALLAHASSEE — The Trump administration is preparing to open the door to oil and gas drilling off Florida’s coast — but will wait until after the November election to avoid blowback in a swing state whose waters both parties have long considered sacrosanct, according to a Politico report citing four unnamed sources familiar with the plans.
Florida officials of both parties have condemned previous plans to drill off state waters. Gov. Ron DeSantis, a staunch Trump ally, has previously said he’d “be raising Cain” with the Trump administration if such plans move forward and that Florida “is not a state for that.”
“Governor DeSantis has made clear his opposition to drilling off the coast of Florida,” DeSantis spokeswoman Helen Ferre said in an email when she was asked to respond to the Politico story on Wednesday.
In January 2018, then-Gov. Rick Scott stood with then-Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke to declare Florida would be exempt from a plan to open coastal areas to oil drilling. But the idea has stuck around, even in the face of opposition from Scott, now a U.S. Senator, and Florida’s other Senator, Marco Rubio.
“I won’t stop fighting to make sure offshore drilling is off the table for Florida. I’m proposing several amendments to extend the moratorium on oil drilling off Florida’s Gulf Coast and protect our environment,” Scott said Wednesday in a released statement. “This fight isn’t over, and I will keep working with Senator Rubio and the entire Florida delegation to make sure Florida’s natural resources are preserved so the