Florida congressional Republicans tell Trump to keep oil drilling off state's coasts

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WASHINGTON (AP) — Florida's Republican-dominated congressional delegation is urging the Trump administration to drop a plan that would allow new oil drilling for the first time in decades off the state's coast.

A letter signed by Republican Sens. Rick Scott and Ashley Moody — as well as by all 28 House members from Florida — says the Interior Department plan would put the state’s thriving tourism industry at risk and disrupt military operations in a key training area.

“In 2020, you made the right decision to use executive action to extend the moratorium on oil and gas leasing off Florida’s Gulf and east coasts through 2032, recognizing the incredible value Florida’s pristine coasts have to our state’s economy, environment and military community,'' the lawmakers wrote in a letter Thursday to President Donald Trump.

The letter represents a rare pushback against the Republican president by GOP lawmakers and demonstrates how important the state's beaches and coastal waters are to Florida's economy.

The letter does not criticize Trump, whose Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida would not be affected by the drilling plan. Instead lawmakers praised Trump's action during his first term, when he imposed a moratorium on drilling in the eastern Gulf of Mexico through 2032 after similar pushback from Florida lawmakers to an earlier drilling plan.

The moratorium received overwhelming bipartisan support, the lawmakers noted.

“We urge you to uphold your existing moratorium and keep Florida’s coasts off the table for oil and gas leasing. Florida’s economy, environment and military readiness depend on this commitment," they wrote.

Interior Secretary Doug Burgum announced a five-year offshore drilling plan last month that includes new oil drilling off the California and Florida coasts for the first time in decades. The plan, which critics say could harm coastal communities and ecosystems, comes as Trump seeks to expand U.S. oil production to achieve what he calls “energy dominance” in the global market.

The oil industry has been seeking access to new offshore areas, including Southern California and off the Florida coast, as a way to boost U.S. energy security and jobs. The federal government has not allowed drilling in federal waters in the eastern Gulf of Mexico, which includes offshore Florida and part of offshore Alabama, since 1995, because of concerns about oil spills. California has some offshore oil rigs, but there has been no new leasing in federal waters since the mid-1980s.

The drilling proposal drew bipartisan pushback in Florida, where a spokesperson for Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis said the Trump administration should reconsider.

Scott, the state's senior senator, said in a post on X Friday that he is “proud to lead Florida’s entire congressional delegation in asking @POTUS to continue his commitment to keeping Florida’s coasts off the table for oil drilling.”

A spokeswoman for the Interior Department said in an email that, “while we do not comment on congressional correspondence through the media, the Department of the Interior takes all correspondence from Congress seriously and carefully reviews each matter.”

Interior is accepting public comments through late January on the drilling plan, which includes as many as 34 potential offshore lease sales nationwide by 2031. That includes 21 sales off the coast of Alaska, seven in the Gulf of Mexico and six along the Pacific coast.

New drilling off the Florida coast would be at least 100 miles from shore in a newly designated South-Central Gulf region, adjacent to thousands of wells and hundreds of drilling platforms in the central Gulf of Mexico.