Cleanup workers search for contaminated sand and seaweed in front of drilling platforms and container ships about one week after an oil spill from an offshore oil platform on Oct. 9, 2021, in Huntington Beach, California. (Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images)
Florida Democrats are hailing President Joe Biden’s announcement on Monday that he will permanently ban future offshore oil and gas drilling off of Florida’s Gulf Coast, a long contentious issue that has traditionally bound members of both political parties from the state in opposition.
State Republicans were conspicuously quiet, however, perhaps deferring to President-elect Donald Trump, who himself imposed a drilling ban during his first term.
U.S. Reps. Kathy Castor and Maxwell Frost provided statements or spoke directly to the Phoenix about their reaction to Biden’s statement that he was taking action to permanently protect both the country’s East and West coasts, the eastern Gulf of Mexico, and Alaska’s Northern Bering sea from oil and natural gas drilling “and the harm it causes.”
“Clean water and clean beaches are central to Florida’s healthy environment, economy and way of life. Floridians voted in 2018 to prohibit oil drilling in state waters (only nine miles offshore), but oil and gas companies still had their eyes on federal waters in the eastern Gulf,” Tampa Bay area Democratic Rep. Kathy Castor said in a written statement.
“I ran for Congress to champion permanent coastal protections and to keep oil drilling away from Florida, so I am thrilled that President Joe Biden answered our call to ban drilling off the Florida Gulf Coast and thereby safeguard our communities, fishing and tourism economies.”
Castor co-sponsored a legislative proposal with Sarasota Republican Rep. Vern Buchanan in 2023 to make permanent an existing moratorium on oil drilling off Florida’s coasts that was scheduled to expire in 2032. Buchanan’s aides said they would attempt to provide comment from the congressman but nothing had come by the time this story was published.
Advocates note how the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill led to major financial losses to the seafood industry. It also killed dolphins, whales, birds, and other animals, according to Oceana, an advocacy organization dedicated to ocean conservation.
‘Right move on many fronts’
Orlando area Democratic Rep. Maxwell Frost called Biden’s decision “a huge win” for Floridians.
“This is the right move on many fronts, both in terms of quality of life for the people of Florida and coastal communities across the entire country, but also as we work to shave emissions so that we can protect our planet and protect humanity,” Frost told the Phoenix in a phone interview on Monday afternoon.
Florida Republicans perhaps were reluctant to comment after they heard from Donald Trump on Monday.
Speaking to radio show host Hugh Hewitt, Trump said that he would reverse the ban. But in his order, Biden used his authority under the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act, which allows him to withdraw any unleased areas of the Outer Continental Shelf from future offshore drilling.
Frost says that means that Trump could not undo the move by invoking his own executive order but instead would have to advocate that Congress repeal the measure. Frost said if it does come back as an issue for federal lawmakers to decide, his hope is that “Florida Republicans will stand by what has traditionally been a bipartisan issue, which is that we don’t want new drilling off the coasts of the state of Florida.”
Bipartisan tradition
Preventing offshore drilling has historically received bipartisan support from Florida lawmakers. The state’s two Republican U.S. senators, Marco Rubio and Rick Scott, co-sponsored legislation in 2021 that would have codified Trump’s moratorium until 2032. Representatives from neither senators’ office immediately return requests for comment from the Phoenix regarding Biden’s announcement on Monday.
Other Republicans weren’t so shy in voicing their opinion about the matter.
Arkansas Republican Rep. Bruce Westerman, chairman of the House Committee on Natural Resources, said in a statement that he intends to push for repealing the move.
“While the federal deficit grows, President Biden’s decision to lock away 625 million acres of future energy potential undermines one of our nation’s greatest revenue streams — energy receipts, second only to income taxes,” said Westerman.
“In the 119th Congress, we will use every tool, including reconciliation, to restore and unleash these revenues, fueling conservation, coastal resilience, and energy independence, and ensuring America — not OPEC, Russia or China — leads the world.”
In addition to Trump’s comments on Monday, his press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, went on social media to denounce Biden’s ban.
“This is a disgraceful decision designed to exact political revenge on the American people who gave President Trump a mandate to increase drilling and lower gas prices,” Leavitt wrote on X. “Rest assured, Joe Biden will fail, and we will drill, baby, drill.”
That comment received an icy response from Rep. Frost.
“Karoline Leavitt quite frankly doesn’t know what the hell she’s talking about,” he said. “The American people voted for Joe Biden for four years. [His presidency] is over in about 14 days. Until that day, he can exercise his duties as president of the United States, because he was also elected with a mandate to protect our planet. And I think that’s really important to keep in mind.”
Trump’s moratorium
Trump did sign an executive order extending a ban on offshore drilling in the eastern Gulf of Mexico off Florida (along with bans off the coasts of Georgia and South Carolina) for 10 years in 2020 but, as earlier noted, those protections are set to expire in 2032.
“My decision reflects what coastal communities, businesses, and beachgoers have known for a long time: that drilling off these coasts could cause irreversible damage to places we hold dear and is unnecessary to meet our nation’s energy needs. It is not worth the risks,” Biden said in a statement.
“As the climate crisis continues to threaten communities across the country and we are transitioning to a clean energy economy, now is the time to protect these coasts for our children and grandchildren.”
In addition to Democratic lawmakers, environmental leaders around the country praised Biden’s move.
“This critical action is a major win for coastal communities, marine wildlife, and our collective future,” said Sierra Club executive director Ben Jealous. “In using the power of the presidency, the same authority used by his three immediate predecessors, President Biden is acting to safeguard the public health of coastal communities from the dangers of offshore drilling along with the marine wildlife that live in these waters.”
“This is an epic ocean victory!” said Oceana campaign director Joseph Gordon in a statement. “Thank you, President Biden, for listening to the voices from coastal communities and contributing to the bipartisan tradition of protecting our coasts. Americans have been calling for these protections for decades, and Oceana applauds President Biden for building on the legacy of Democratic and Republican presidents protecting our coasts from offshore drilling.”