Trump announces offshore drilling ban off Florida, East Coast states

Offshore staff

JUPITER, FLA. – President Donald Trump announced on Tuesday a decade-long ban on oil drilling off the coast of Florida, Georgia and South Carolina — a decision that surprised energy industry executives by reversing the administration’s earlier pledges to open those waters to exploration.

The website Politico reported the president to say, at the event: “In a few moments I will sign a presidential order extending the moratorium on offshore drilling on Florida’s Gulf Coast and expanding it to Florida’s Atlantic Coast as well as the coast of Georgia and South Carolina.” The current moratorium on drilling in the Eastern Gulf of Mexico expires in 2022.

The move, announced at a campaign appearance in Jupiter, Fla., represents an election-year victory for drilling opponents in the crucial presidential swing state, Politico said.

The new move is expected to be accomplished by Presidential Memorandum, Politico reported. That vehicle — the same one the Obama administration used to withdraw parts of Alaska from drilling — would have the same impact as a Congressional moratorium, an industry source added.

09/09/2020