One of Florida's senators is warning that despite an announcement by the Interior Secretary and Gov. Rick Scott, the state may not be exempt from a White House plan to expand oil drilling off the nation's coastlines.
Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson is seizing on a statement made Friday Walter Cruickshank, the Trump administration’s director of the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM), who said Florida is not "off the table" for drilling.
When asked during a congressional hearing to justify why Florida got an exemption, Cruickshank said, “We have no formal decision yet on what’s in, or out, of the five-year program.”
“So there’s been no decision to exempt Florida?” Rep. Jared Huffman (D-CA) asked.
“The secretary’s statement stands for itself,” the administration official replied.
"This confirms what we all suspected: there is no deal to protect Florida from drilling," Nelson said in a statement. "What we saw last week was just political theater, and the people of Florida should be outraged. Drilling off of Florida’s coast is a real threat to our state and we should all be working together to protect our coasts – not playing politics with an issue that’s so important to our future."
This month, shortly after the Trump administration announced a plan that would expand oil drilling off much of the U.S. coastline, Gov. Rick Scott announced he had told by Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke that Florida would not be included in the plan.
Friday, Scott says he expects Zinke will "live up to his commitments."
"He promised me that Florida would be off the table, and I believe Florida is off the table,” he said.
