With Reversal on Florida Offshore Drilling, Zinke Highlights His Selective Hearing
What's good news for the state can also be seen as yet another example of political favoritism by the current administration.
This week, Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke Florida will be exempt from hisplans toexpand offshore oil and gas drilling. The decision most likelymeans a safer future for Floridians and its coastal wildlife,includingPiping Plovers, Reddish Egrets, Roseate Spoonbills, and other winged inhabitants of the Sunshine State.
Zinke's reasoningforthedecision,however, has raised questions on how and why the current administration chooses to exploitor preserve natural resources. On January 4, Zinke for offshore energy development that would open more than 90 percent of the outer continental shelf to drilling, reversing an Obama administration order that blocked drilling in much of that same area. The proposal calls for 47 lease auctions from 2019 to 2024, including the Atlantic and Pacific coasts, which have been closed to oil and gas activity for decades. Then, just five days later, after a meeting with FloridaGovernor Rick Scott,who had concerns about drilling off his coast, Zinke announced that the statewould be excludedfrom the plan, saying he did so out of consideration for “local and state voices.”
But politicians all along the coasts spoke out against the proposal, citing an oil spill’s potential to devastate coastal ecosystems and tourism-dependent economies. Moreover, the appeal from Scott’s office came as somewhat ofa surprise—it from the drilling expansion last year when the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) asked coastal state leaders to help shape the plan. Governors of 12 states, including the Republicans from Maryland, Massachusetts, and New Jersey, used that opportunity to ask that their shores be kept off-limits. (The governors of Alabama, Alaska, Georgia, Louisiana, Maine, Mississippi, and Texas welcomed the proposal.)
“Offshore drilling is harmful in lots of places,” says Julie Wraithmell, interim executive director of . She praised the Florida exemption, aswell as the work done by Scott, Senators Bill Nelson and Marco Rubio, and the members of Florida's congressional delegation to make it happen. But she alsoadds her state isn'tspecial. “If the secretary’s office is saying directly that GovernorScott’s argument made a legitimate case for excluding Florida, there are certainly governors from other states with compelling arguments, and I hope they’ll be given the same consideration.”
Indeed, since the Florida announcement, other leaders their states weren’t given the same treatment. Politics mightbe the biggest answer. Critics see Zinke’s Florida waiver as a handout to Scott, who is considering a run for the U.S. Senate in a swing state. Scott had to the offshore-drilling expansion on Twitter and requested a meeting with Zinke, who promptly flew to Tallahassee, talked with Scott, and told reporters that—thanks to the governor’s leadership—the Interior would exempt Florida. Democratic incumbent Bill Nelson, who supported themoratorium against drilling in the Eastern Gulf and would beScott’s opponent if he runs for Senate, “a political stunt orchestrated by the Trump administration.” The Sierra Club likewise said it was “ to aid the ambitions of Rick Scott.” Some even could be aimed at protecting the president’s Mar-A-Lago resort in Palm Beach.
This isn't the first timethis administration has demonstrated selective hearing when it comes to voices that count toward natural-resource policies.President Trumpdisregarded when he signed a tax bill in December in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, breeding ground for the caribou herd that sustains the tribe’s way of life. Republicans in office the President for listening to local voicesandinput when he from Utah’s Bears Ears National Monument and nearby Grand Staircase-Escalante. But therollback last month defied the wishes of area tribes, ran counter to the majority of Utahns in who wanted the monuments left untouched, and brushed aside of public comments that were opposed to shrinking or eliminating the monuments. Meanwhile, the administration has been a willing audience to fossil-fuel companies. Oil and gas executives have enjoyed face-to-face and , and President Trump has made his own.
If the proposed drilling plan isupheld in other states, the program could have serious implications for birds. BOEM’s Pacific region, which encompasses California, Oregon, and Washington, is home to six federally threatened or endangered bird species, including the endangered Short-tailed Albatross and threatened Marbled Murrelet. According to , another five listed species live in BOEM’s Atlantic region, along with seven off Alaska’s coast and eight in the Gulf of Mexico. (All habitat would likely be subject to environmental assessments prior to leasing.) History further shows that oil spills can have lasting effects on wildlife. The 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster in the Gulf of Mexico, for example, and . The survivors may face complications as well: Even onfeathers makes birds burn more energy during migration, threatening their reproductive success.
Although Florida’s birds remain safe for now, Zinke’s decision to exempt the state mightbackfire. Some it could be ruled “arbitrary and capricious,” in violation of federal law. The secretary says he’s open to meeting with other concerned coastal governors, Republican or Democrat, and stresses that this is a draft drilling plan, subject to . If the past few days are any indication, he’s in for an earful.
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