The bipartisan congressional effort led by U.S. Senator Bill Nelson (D) to keep the federal government from opening Florida’s coast line to oil exploration succeeded after the Secretary of the Interior, Ryan Zinke, stated that Florida would be spared from offshore oil drilling.
Zinke flew down to Florida to meet with Republican Governor Rick Scott and made the announcement as the two met at the Tallahassee, Florida airport. This move by Zinke and Scott infuriated Democratic Senator Bill Nelson, who questioned if the decision “was real” and called the move a “political stunt” by the Trump administration to help Scott as he prepares to challenge him in the 2018 senatorial midterm election.
Nelson took a page out of the Trump Twitter playbook and unleashed a barrage of tweets questioning Zinke’s “off the table,” and why the courtesy was not extended to the other coastal states. The senior senator also said that Scott did not really believe in not drilling offshore, saying that the Florida governor has supported drilling over the past 7 ½ years.
I have spent my entire life fighting to keep oil rigs away from our coasts. This is a political stunt orchestrated by the Trump administration to help Rick Scott who has wanted to drill off Florida's coast his entire career. We shouldn’t be playing politics with the future of FL. https://t.co/xJoat2m9az
— Bill Nelson (@SenBillNelson) January 9, 2018
Begs the question: If this was a real deal to take Florida off the table - and not just a political stunt - why doesn’t it apply to other similarly situated states. https://t.co/D1nh9a6GsP
— Bill Nelson (@SenBillNelson) January 10, 2018
In addition to questioning Scott’s political motives and hoping to keep pace with his probably senatorial campaign, Nelson immediately filed a bill to permanently ban drilling for oil of the coast of Florida.
While Gov Scott consistently states that he has not made up his mind on running for the U.S. Senate, sources close to the governor say that a senate run is imminent and could launch shortly after the 2018 legislative session in Florida ends.
The devil is in the details. We still don’t know what Sec. Zinke really means when he said offshore drilling was “off the table” for Florida, but what we do know is that it was a political stunt and other states should be able to exclude themselves from this plan as well. pic.twitter.com/iChNi6q5yU
— Bill Nelson (@SenBillNelson) January 11, 2018
Here is Nelson's bill:
While others are choosing to play politics with this issue, here’s the bill I filed yesterday that would permanently ban drilling off Florida’s coast. #ProtectOurCoast pic.twitter.com/m1yqWfQHfl
— Bill Nelson (@SenBillNelson) January 11, 2018
