The moratorium on selling new oil and leases in the eastern Gulf of Mexico is set to expire in 2022, unless Congress extends it. Several efforts by oil and gas interests to open it up over the years have not gained much traction on Capitol Hill.
In a statement on Trump's visit to Florida, Biden assailed Trump's over environmental record by noting that he has opened up thousands of acres of lands to new oil and gas drilling. "Trump has called the climate crisis a 'hoax,'" Biden said.
"He has eliminated rules designed to keep our air and water clean."The former vice president also took a shot at Trump's record on managing the COVID-19 pandemic, saying Florida also has seen"more than 11,000 deaths, 600,000 cases, and 3.6 million workers across the state who have filed for unemployment benefits since March." The president attacked Biden, who he said would"take away our energy independence" and cause energy prices to skyrocket. Trump said Biden and Democrats use environmental policy as"an excuse to advance a socialist platform." "The contrast between our vision and the radical left has never been more clear," he said."They talk a big game and they do nothing."In 2018, he proposed to open up 90% of the Outer Continental Shelf off the U.S. coast to oil and gas exploration. But within a week, thefollowing a 20-minute meeting then-Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke had with then-Gov. Rick Scott at a Tallahassee airport. Democrats blasted the move as political gamesmanship to help Scott, who was widely expected at the time to challenge incumbent Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson later that year. Scott, a Trump confidant, narrowly defeated the three-term Democrat. Last year, the Trump administration announced rollbacks to offshore drilling safety rules created after the 2010 BP Deepwater Horizon explosion in the Gulf, the worst offshore oil disaster in U.S. history. And just last month, the Trump administration said it would begin auctioning off leases for oil drilling in Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, a potential first-of-its-kind opening of the pristine wilderness that is being challenged in court. South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster praised the president's order but warned that"we must remain vigilant in the conservation and preservation of our coastline." McMaster, a Trump ally, was opposed to Trump's initial drilling exploration 2018 expansion plans. "South Carolina is blessed with the most beautiful and pristine beaches, sea islands, and marshes in the nation,""Seismic testing and offshore drilling threatens their health and jeopardizes the future of our state’s $24 billion tourism industry." Krista Wright – executive director of Polar Bears International, a science-based organization dedicated to polar bears and Arctic sea ice – said Trump's support of the Gulf of Mexico moratorium is"likely a gesture fueled by political ambition," but they'll take it. Trump should do more, she added:"If the President is serious about conservation he should reverse all the catastrophic de-regulation and handouts to industry that come at the expense of our global health." Diana Hoskins, campaign director for Oceana Action, a group dedicated to protecting oceans, said Trump's message"sounds more like political speech than a move toward permanent protection."“He is the only, and I want to stress this, the only president in the United States history to have removed more public lands than he has protected," said Rep. Lois Frankel, D-Fla.
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