Trump extends oil drilling moratorium off Florida coast

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JUPITER, United States, Sept 8, 2020 (BSS/AFP) – President Donald Trump,
normally an enthusiastic proponent of the oil industry, on Tuesday announced
he was extending a 10-year moratorium on drilling off the coast of Florida, a
gesture aimed at bolstering his support in the battleground state ahead of
November’s election.

“In a few moments I will sign a presidential order extending the moratorium
on offshore drilling on Florida’s Gulf Coast and expanding it to Florida’s
Atlantic Coast as well as the coast of Georgia and South Carolina,” Trump
said at an event in Jupiter, Florida.

The moratorium on drilling in the eastern Gulf of Mexico, which had been
due to expire in 2022, will now run until 2032 and be extended to the
Atlantic coast of Florida, Georgia and South Carolina.

“After many conversations with @realDonaldTrump on the importance of
keeping FL’s coastlines pristine, I’m glad he’s extending the moratorium for
another 10 years,” said Florida senator Rick Scott, a former Republican
governor of the state, on Twitter.

Trump’s Democratic rival for the White House, Joe Biden, was quick to point
out that “just months ago, Donald Trump was planning to allow oil and gas
drilling off the coast of Florida. Now, with 56 days until the election, he
conveniently says that he changed his mind. Unbelievable.”

The decision contrasts sharply with earlier actions taken by the Trump
administration, which in mid-August approved a move that will open the way
for oil and gas drilling in a pristine wildlife reserve in Alaska that is
home to polar bears.

In 2018, the White House said it would open almost all of US coastal waters
up to oil and gas drilling, a decision that was met with opposition in
numerous states and that is still being challenged in the courts.

Florida will be a key battleground state in the November election. In 2016,
Trump won it by a thin margin thanks to senior citizens, but this year Biden
has a very narrow edge on the incumbent.