Extension For Florida's Offshore Drilling Ban Sought By Lawmakers

WASHINGTON, DC — Oil companies seeking new offshore reserves will have to look in places other than Florida if U.S. Reps. Vern Buchanan and Debbie Wasserman Schultz get their way. The lawmakers teamed up Monday to introduce the Marine Oil Spill Prevention Act, which, if approved, would ban oil drilling off of much of Florida’s Gulf coast until 2027.

Part of the intent of the bill is to extend by five years a ban that is already in place, a statement from Buchanan’s office said. The moratorium in place now bans oil drilling within 125 miles of most of the Gulf coast. It is set to expire, however, on June 20, 2022.

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“Florida’s beaches are vital to our economy and way of life,” said Buchanan, a Republican from the Sarasota area. “Our coastal communities depend on a clean and healthy ocean.”

The legislation would also make it the responsibility of oil companies to pay for any necessary cleanup efforts while providing grant funding for states. Oil companies are only held accountable for spill cleanup if oil is transported in single-hull vessels, a statement from the two representatives said.

“Our coastline and pristine beaches are true environmental treasures and the lifeblood of Florida’s tourism economy,” Wasserman Shultz, a Democrat from the Miami area, said. “It would be malpractice and colossally irresponsible to allow oil drilling activities to jeopardize that.”

The bill also seeks to establish the “Gulf Coast Regional Citizens’ Advisory Council,” the two representatives said. The council would be tasked with fighting “oil spill threats before they occur by tracking industry activities and recommending safety practices,” the statement explained. Florida’s council would be similar to the Prince William Sound advisory board established by Congress following the Exxon Valdez disaster.

The bill, formally introduced on May 1, comes following the release of a Trump Administration proposal that might open up more than 70 million acres off Florida’s coast for gas and oil drilling over the next five years. Buchanan, a longstanding opponent of drilling off Florida’s Gulf coast, recently joined a bipartisan group in firing off opposition to the proposal.

Buchanan explained his opposition to drilling off the Gulf coast with two words: Deepwater Horizon. The 2010 explosion was “one of the worst environmental disasters in U.S. history,” his statement said. The resulting “spill spewed more than 4 million barrels of oil into the Gulf of Mexico, claimed the lives of 11 works, decimated the region’s iconic wildlife and severely damaged our fishing and tourism industries.”

Since the bill was introduced on Monday, it is unclear how soon Congress might take it up.

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