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Trump Administration Reevaluates Offshore Drilling Expansion Plan
Opponents in St. Augustine of oil and gas exploration. Photo by Amy Green
The Trump administration says it is reevaluating a controversial plan to sharply expand offshore drilling, possibly off Florida’s coast.
That’s as the administration responds to a court ruling blocking oil and gas development in the Arctic and parts of the Atlantic.
A federal judge ruled President Donald Trump overstepped his authority with an executive order expanding oil and gas development in the Arctic and parts of the Atlantic.
Interior Secretary David Bernhardt said this week the challenge may be “discombobulating” to the administration’s drilling plan.
The five-year plan would have opened up 90 percent of offshore reserves to development. It was strongly opposed in both Democratic- and Republican-led states.
In Florida top leaders had called on Bernhardt to honor a previous Interior commitment that the state be left “off the table” on offshore drilling.
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