Is offshore drilling in Fl. a controversy with the politicians or the people?

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Trump faces rare rift with Florida Republicans over offshore drilling plan

Florida Republicans are fuming as the Trump administration proposes to open up new drilling in the Eastern Gulf of Mexico.

“The new maps released today by @SecretaryBurgum and @Interior outlining potential new offshore oil drilling sites in the Gulf of America are HIGHLY concerning—and we will be engaging directly with the department on this issue,” wrote Sen. Ashley Moody (R-Fla.) in a post on the social platform X.

The office of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) also criticized the plan, noting that in 2020, President Trump blocked drilling off the state’s coasts.

“Our Administration supports the 2020 Presidential Memorandum and urges the Department of Interior to reconsider and to conform to the 2020 Trump Administration policy,” Molly Best, a spokesperson for DeSantis, said in a statement to The Hill.

On Thursday, the Trump administration proposed a massive expansion of U.S. offshore drilling, which would include opening up new drilling in the eastern gulf, as well as in California.

California is reliably blue but has a few swing districts where the issue could be a big one. Florida, by contrast, has gone from a swing state to reliably red, so the drilling issue is a rare break for some of its members with the president.

The oil industry has argued that drilling even in controversial places such as the eastern gulf is necessary for the long run.

The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management’s “updated reserve estimate of 7.04 billion barrels of oil equivalent shows the Central and Western areas will remain prolific for decades, but sustaining the Gulf’s long-term competitiveness means evaluating opportunities in the Gulf of America Program Area B as well,” Erik Milito, president of the National Ocean Industries Association, said in a statement to The Hill, referring to all of the drilling areas proposed by the Trump administration.

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