President Biden bans future oil and natural gas drilling off Florida’s coast

It is not yet known what effect this will have on the state’s decision to allow a permit for an exploratory oil well along the Apalachicola River.

President Biden on Monday banned future oil and natural gas drilling and leasing off of Florida’s coasts.

His executive actions add 334 million acres of the Atlantic coast from Canada to the southern tip of Florida and the east coast of the Gulf of Mexico for a total of over 625 million acres of protected waters surrounding the United States.

While there are no active leases off the Atlantic coast, Florida’s beaches on the east coast of the Gulf of Mexico have previously been impacted by oil spills from drilling in the gulf, most notably from BP’s Deepwater Horizon oil drilling rig in 2010.

“President Biden has determined that the environmental and economic risks and harms that would result from drilling in these areas outweigh their limited fossil fuel resource potential,” the White House’s press release says.

“With these withdrawals, President Biden is protecting coastal communities, marine ecosystems, and local economies – including fishing, recreation, and tourism – from oil spills and other impacts of offshore drilling.”

It’s not clear, however, what effect this will have on the Florida Department of Environmental Protection’s decision to allow a permit for an exploratory oil well along the Apalachicola River, which has been heavily criticized by drilling opponents and lawmakers.

It’s also not clear if the ban will have staying power. Trump is vowing to “unban it immediately.”

A spokesperson for the Trump administration said Biden’s move was “disgraceful” and was “designed to exact political revenge on the American people who gave President Trump a mandate to increase drilling and lower gas prices.”

“Rest assured, Joe Biden will fail, and we will drill, baby, drill,” wrote Trump spokesperson Karoline Leavitt in a post on X.

The ban also includes the Pacific off the coasts of Washington, Oregon and California, and additional portions of the Northern Bering Sea in Alaska.

In Florida, the Apalachicola River is considered to be one of the least polluted, least developed and resource-rich bodies of water in the United States, according to the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).

Critics of the state’s plan to allow exploratory drilling want Gov. Ron DeSantis to block Clearwater Land & Minerals from drilling through a lime rock pad north of Dead Lakes in Calhoun County.

Democratic state Reps. Allison Tant and Gallop Franklin, and Republican state Sen. Corey Simon had harsh words for the proposal when it came to light last year.

“It is unconscionable that efforts to drill for oil are happening at the same time that we are fighting for the revitalization of the Apalachicola Bay,” Simon said in a statement released by the Florida Senate.  

Requests for comment from DeSantis’ office and U.S. Sen. Rick Scott were pending as of midday Monday.

Ana Goñi-Lessan is the State Watchdog Reporter for USA TODAY – Florida and can be reached at AGoniLessan@tallahassee.com.