The Trump administration is taking Florida off its new offshore oil-and-gas leasing plan after pushback from state Gov. Rick Scott, saying the development would harm Florida’s tourism industry.
Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke announced last week that his department was drafting a plan to open the U.S. Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) to offshore oil and gas leasing. The OCS includes vast areas off the Atlantic and Pacific coasts, Alaska’s coast, and in the Gulf of Mexico.
After a meeting with Scott, Zinke said areas off the coast of Florida would be excluded from the draft plan, preventing drilling in a large part of the Gulf of Mexico that oil and gas companies expressed a high interest in exploring, according to Axios.
Read my full statement on taking #Florida off the table for offshore oil and gas. Local voice matters. pic.twitter.com/fJhv0p0CDC
— Secretary Ryan Zinke (@SecretaryZinke) January 9, 2018
The move could place Zinke in an awkward position as more governors speak out against drilling off their states’ coasts. The governors of California, Oregon and Washington, which make up the entire West Coast of the contiguous U.S., have all condemned the Trump administration’s plan to open the OCS.
Pacific Coast Governors Condemn Federal Decision to Expand Offshore Drilling: https://t.co/V8s9jT7H7h pic.twitter.com/QRhhcVzRH2
— Gov. Brown Press Office (@GovPressOffice) January 4, 2018
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