Florida’s congressional delegation is asking President Donald J. Trump to maintain the federal moratorium on offshore oil and gas drilling near the state’s coastline, warning that a newly proposed leasing plan could conflict with existing protections and disrupt military operations.
In a Dec. 4 letter to President Trump, the lawmakers objected to a draft five-year offshore leasing program released last month by the Interior Department’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management. The proposal includes a newly defined area known as the “South-Central Gulf of America.” Florida lawmakers said the area falls within waters already covered by Trump’s 2020 executive action extending a drilling moratorium for Florida’s Gulf and Atlantic coasts through 2032.
“If this plan were to move forward, the area would clearly fall within the area protected under your moratorium in a clear violation of your 2020 Executive Order. This area also falls within the Gulf Test Range, a critical military training area used by several military forces along Florida’s Panhandle for advanced military testing, training, and evaluation of air and weapons systems,” the lawmakers wrote.
The delegation said the proposed planning area also overlaps with the Gulf Test Range, a large military testing and training zone that supports multiple installations in the Florida Panhandle, including Eglin Air Force Base. The range is used for advanced air and weapons systems testing and is considered a key component of national defense operations.
According to the lawmakers, Eglin alone supports about 20,000 military and civilian personnel and generates an estimated $11 billion in annual economic impact. The Gulf Test Range encompasses roughly 123,000 square miles of air and water space. More than 50,000 jobs in the region are tied directly to military facilities that rely on the range, the letter said.
The delegation also cited risks to Florida’s tourism-based economy, noting that the state’s beaches generate more than $127.7 billion in annual tourism spending and support over 2.1 million jobs. The lawmakers referenced the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill as an example of the long-term economic and environmental damage that offshore drilling accidents can cause.
The letter was signed by Florida Sens. Rick Scott and Ashley Moody, along with Reps. Kat Cammack, Darren Soto, Jimmy Patronis, Anna Paulina Luna, Aaron Bean, Mario Díaz-Balart, John H. Rutherford, Kathy Castor, Debbie Wasserman Schultz, Neal Dunn, Carlos Gimenez, Brian Mast, Byron Donalds, Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick, Gus Bilirakis, Maria Elvira Salazar, Frederica Wilson, Mike Haridopolos, Maxwell Frost, Lois Frankel, Scott Franklin, Laurel Lee, Jared Moskowitz and Greg Steube.
