Trump Backs Down On Drilling Off The Coast Of Red States Turning Purple

Oil Can Harry by Nancy Ohanian

Yesterday, in a complete about face, while campaigning in Jupiter (FL), the Trumpist regime announced a decade-long ban on oil drilling off the coast of Florida, Georgia and South Carolina. Politico reported it as "a decision that surprised energy industry executives by reversing the administration’s earlier pledges to open those waters to exploration... [I]t comes despite vows by a series of Republican presidents-- Ronald Reagan, George W. Bush and now Trump-- to open up more of the U.S. coast to drilling to foster American energy independence."

It comes because Trump fears he will lose Florida and Georgia, where voters (rather than money)don't want oil slicks fouling their beaches, destroying their fishing and tourism industries and bringing down their standard of life.

A congressional aide who works on the issue said their office had gotten no advance heads-up from the White House.

“As of yesterday they said there would be no announcement,” one congressional aide said on Tuesday morning.

The new move is expected to be done by Presidential Memorandum, according to an administration official. 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.

Half a dozen industry officials and lobbyists who had been working on the offshore exploration issue with the Interior Department, which develops the federal government’s five-year drilling plans, told Politico the administration never mentioned extending the moratorium.

“It’s a complete ambush,” said one industry official who had been abreast of Interior’s plans. “Nobody knows where this came from. It totally seems like a campaign sort of thing.”

...The Trump administration had originally announced in 2017 it would seek to open nearly all the U.S. coastal waters to oil and gas drilling, but it quickly walked that plan back after complaints from then-Florida Gov. Rick Scott and other governors. People familiar with the administration's plans had told Politico as recently as June that the administration was still aiming to open up those waters to drilling, but that it would wait until after the November election to announce the move.

The oil industry has aggressively lobbied the Trump administration to open up the Eastern Gulf of Mexico for oil and gas drilling when the current moratorium on exploration there ends in June 2022. Florida residents are strongly opposed to opening up the area to drilling rigs, however, fearful that an oil spill would wreck the state's tourism and fishing economy-- something its Panhandle region got a taste of during the catastrophic BP spill in 2010.

...One oil and gas industry executive said with Trump behind in most national polls, securing states he won in 2016 has taken on increasing urgency for his re-election campaign. In 2016, Trump won Florida by 1.2 percent.

“Industry views on this right now-- they don’t matter," said an oil and gas industry official. "All the decisions they're making right now, they're probably like, 'We helped you. We don't care.'”

Issuing a presidential memorandum to rescind Florida waters through the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act, which Obama used to withdraw many Arctic areas just before leaving office, could have a lasting effect. Federal courts have so far upheld Obama's memorandum by rejecting the Trump administration's attempts to open the offshore Arctic areas. The Trump administration is challenging that ruling.

Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis joined Trump at his Florida appearance. But the governor’s office has no details about the moratorium, suggesting the policy change had not been shared with DeSantis’s office.

The clownish Trump, universally considered the most environmentally unfriendly president in modern American history, was quick to try to generate some enthusiasm for himself. The L.A. Times reported that his proclamation is just symbolic. "Since taking office, Trump has shredded dozens of environmental protections, dismissed the scientific consensus on climate change and tapped energy lobbyists to lead the agencies entrusted with safeguarding the country’s natural resources, but he dramatically recast his record in an effort to woo environmentally minded voters." Señor Trumpanzee: "Number one since Teddy Roosevelt. Who would have thought? Trump is the great environmentalist."

Janelle Christensen, chair of the Florida Environmental Caucus, wasn't fooled. "Like a bad magic act that doesn't even bother to hide the slight of hand," she told me today, "Trump goes through the motions of pretending to do the right thing. An executive order can be lifted by the president at any point. Likely he'll put this in place to trick gullible people into thinking that he cares about the environment hoping he can slip back into office. Of course he's going to lift it as soon as he gets what he wants. This is how he operates. Trump is a developer first, President second and has absolutely no interest in anything except for his self interest."

Cindy Banyai is running to represent the Ft. Myers/Naples congressional district, an open seat now that Francis Rooney is retiring. Her opponent, far right Trumpist Byron Donalds, has an F rating on the environment from the Democratic Environmental Caucus of Florida. Banyai noted today that "It's convenient that Trump comes to Florida, a swing state, just ahead of the election and signs an order banning offshore drilling when it wasn't even set to expire until 2022 in a clear ploy to win over pro-water voters here. The showman strikes again! Then again we will see what really happens when his corporate masters come calling after the election."

Progressive Democrat Joshua Hicks is running for a state House seat in northeast Florida that encompasses Nassau County and some of Duval. The incumbent, Cord Byrd is a garden variety Florida Republican-- he doesn't talk about oil drilling a lot but since he represents a coastal district, he twists himself into knots trying to square a pro-development agenda with a tepid opposition to oil drilling off the coast (of at least his own district). Joshua is clearly the environmental candidate. "Floridians," he told me this morning, "don't need empty promises from empty suits. This is just an election season joke by Donald Trump. He announced the moratorium but then said the plan wouldn't be released until after the election. This is coming from a man who wanted to drill off the Florida coasts as recently as June, but somehow he's now had a change of heart? I don't believe him and won't fall for lies from a liar. Florida needs a permanent ban on oil drilling off our treasured coasts-- so that politicians like Donald Trump can't play these games. If we really want to protect our coasts, we need to elect Joe Biden and Democrats up and down the ballot."