{"id":35597,"date":"2025-11-06T09:55:09","date_gmt":"2025-11-06T09:55:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/35597\/"},"modified":"2025-11-06T09:55:09","modified_gmt":"2025-11-06T09:55:09","slug":"feds-eye-new-offshore-oil-drilling-florida-must-shut-it-down-fast","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/35597\/","title":{"rendered":"Feds eye new offshore oil drilling; Florida must shut it down fast"},"content":{"rendered":"

Fifteen years ago, 11 men died in a ball of fire, marking the Gulf Coast\u2019s worst environmental disaster.<\/p>\n

In response, Florida voters banned drilling in state waters. During his first term, President Donald Trump used his authority to prevent further drilling in the Southeast, including off Florida\u2019s Gulf Coast, for a decade. However, the impacts of the BP oil spill on wildlife and fishing are still felt across the Panhandle today<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Now, incredibly, the federal government is reportedly developing a plan to bring the drilling threat to Florida \u2014 at point-blank range. In the same waters where BP oil once flowed, we could see a fleet of permanent drilling rigs ready to unleash destruction, potentially even harming our armed forces.<\/p>\n

Early headlines tout the government\u2019s apparent retreat from drilling on the Atlantic Coast \u2014 that\u2019s good, but don\u2019t be distracted. Government sources indicate that Washington will target protected areas of the Eastern Gulf \u2014 the waters where the military trains, where our seafood industry operates, and where coastal economies rely on clean beaches and open water.<\/p>\n

While federal bureaucrats haven\u2019t released their final plan, the time to shout is now \u2014 before they commit to anything foolish.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Here\u2019s what we know \u2014 Gulf Coast communities are still struggling, 15 years after the BP oil spill. Ask any commercial fisherman from Pensacola to Apalachicola. We\u2019re still using BP recovery funds to rebuild these communities through the TRIUMPH program. Now, we\u2019re debating whether to bring the drilling threat even closer \u2014 into the very waters that BP oil once crossed on its way to Florida.<\/p>\n

This entire area was protected by Trump just a few years ago. This is an idea so bad that even Democrats and Republicans agree.<\/p>\n

\u201cTrust us,\u201d says the federal government. We are told not to worry about this drilling situation because \u201cnothing is final.\u201d Perhaps there will even be a \u201c100-mile buffer\u201d (as if oil doesn\u2019t float).<\/p>\n

But every horror movie starts with someone saying, \u201cI\u2019m sure it\u2019s nothing.\u201d<\/p>\n

In other words, you don\u2019t need the final blueprint to see a bad idea forming \u2014 and to act against it now.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

With the BP oil spill, Florida didn\u2019t just get tar balls. We got closed beaches, collapsed fisheries, toxic marshes, wildlife coated in sludge, and a tourism industry on life support.<\/p>\n

And note \u2014 we haven\u2019t even finished using all the TRIUMPH funds from the last disaster.<\/p>\n

Maybe the government should complete the cleanup from the previous catastrophic spill before starting another one.<\/p>\n

This isn\u2019t just about dolphins and beach chairs. The Eastern Gulf is where America practices for battles we hope never to see, including against China. Highly active training ranges simulate the South China Sea, providing our military with open, unobstructed space to maintain readiness. This vital capability keeps America\u2019s enemies at bay and supports tens of thousands of jobs.<\/p>\n

That means \u2014 Eglin Air Force Base, Tyndall Air Force Base, Naval Air Station Pensacola, Naval Air Station Whiting Field, Hurlburt Field, and units from around the country that come here to train.<\/p>\n

You put rigs and seismic equipment in these ranges, and you\u2019re not protecting freedom \u2014 you\u2019re shutting down bases. Nothing says \u201csupport our troops\u201d like forcing the 33rd Fighter Wing to dodge drilling towers on its way to a new home in another state. And remind me again \u2014 why?<\/p>\n

Drilling off our shores doesn\u2019t lower gas prices in Tallahassee or Sarasota. It doesn\u2019t keep the Publix bakery stocked. It doesn\u2019t protect us from hurricanes. What does it do? It shifts real environmental and economic consequences to Floridians for the benefit of multinational companies.<\/p>\n

Some Florida leaders recognize how badly this could go wrong. Sens. Rick Scott and Ashley Moody have introduced the American Shores Protection Act<\/a> to extend the drilling ban off Florida\u2019s coasts \u2014 initially championed by President Donald Trump \u2014 through 2032. On the House side, Reps. Vern Buchanan, Gus Bilirakis, Kathy Castor and Darren Soto and have introduced bipartisan legislation, the Florida Coastal Protection Act, which goes even further to permanently prohibit oil and natural gas exploration, development, and production off Florida\u2019s coast.<\/p>\n

Our leaders in Congress are saying \u2014 no more games. Protect the Gulf. Lock it down.<\/p>\n

But that\u2019s not enough.<\/p>\n

We need Florida\u2019s entire congressional delegation to unite and reach out to the President now. We also need the Governor to step up, as he often has, for Florida\u2019s waters. And we need influential Floridians with White House contacts to make calls today.<\/p>\n

This isn\u2019t about party lines or headlines. This is about unity.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s about every Florida leader \u2014 city Mayors and entrepreneurs, state legislators and federal lawmakers \u2014 standing together and saying: not here, not now, not ever.<\/p>\n

Tourism, seafood, military readiness, and coastal property values all rise or fall together.<\/p>\n

One spill, one misstep, or even a steady stream of routine daily pollution \u2014 the cost is enormous, the recovery can take decades, and the risk is not worth it.<\/p>\n

Before anyone in D.C. gets too clever, here\u2019s the Florida position \u2014 repeated slowly for those in the back: if you couldn\u2019t responsibly manage the last disaster, you don\u2019t get to start the next one.<\/p>\n

Until every penny from the last catastrophe is allocated, every family is made whole, every marsh restored, every commercial fishery recovers, and every military commander says \u201cwe\u2019re good\u201d \u2014 the Gulf stays off-limits.<\/p>\n

Florida values white beaches, clean water, steady tourism, and a strong military. We don\u2019t like outsiders threatening our way of life. Florida needs to stop this drilling before it even gets started.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Fifteen years ago, 11 men died in a ball of fire, marking the Gulf Coast\u2019s worst environmental disaster.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":35598,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[24749,3853,19725,24750,24751,28,24752,24753,30,29,7404,24754,19727,24755,24756,24757,3856],"class_list":["post-35597","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-florida","tag-american-shores-protection-act","tag-ashley-moody","tag-bp-oil-spill","tag-clean-beaches","tag-environmental-disaster","tag-florida","tag-florida-coastal-protection-act","tag-florida-drilling-ban","tag-florida-headlines","tag-florida-news","tag-florida-tourism","tag-gulf-coast-protection","tag-gulf-of-mexico","tag-military-training-ranges","tag-offshore-drilling","tag-pensacola-fishing-industry","tag-rick-scott"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35597","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35597"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35597\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/35598"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35597"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35597"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35597"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}