Not so quick, Mr, President. Many states including Florida are up in arms over the republican President Donald Trump’s plans to now allow for off shore-oil drilling in most U.S. continental shelf waters. We here in Florida have not forgotten the 2010 disaster were an explosion by BP’s off shore drilling project in the Gulf of Mexico caused oil spills for days on end, causing harm to the environment that we still see today in 2017.
The president is not fooling anyone as he tries to sell this plan, as part of the US plan to strive towards “energy independence.” This is just one more corporate handout at the expense of the environment and the American peoples. We don’t want those good paying jobs that could very likely cause many to lose their livelihoods because of another major oil spill. And please don’t tell us how safe it is to do this off-shore drilling. We have heard all of these lies before the 2010 Deepwater Horizon explosion, the largest US oil spill ever.
Here Is the rest of the story…
On January 4, 2018, Darryl Fears of the Washington Post penned the following report, “Trump administration to expand drilling off U.S. continental waters”
“The Trump administration unveiled a controversial plan Thursday (1/4/17) to permit drilling in most U.S. continental shelf waters, including protected areas of the Arctic and the Atlantic, where oil and gas exploration is opposed by governors from New Jersey to Florida, nearly a dozen attorneys general, more than 100 U.S. lawmakers and the Defense Department.”
“More than 3 billion barrels of oil is recoverable on the outer continental shelf, along with more than 30 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, according to the Interior Department, which announced the plan. States stand to gain royalties from extraction of these natural resources, and drilling could create hundreds of jobs.”
“But the plan faces a wave of bipartisan state opposition, led in part by Republican Gov. Larry Hogan of Maryland, who has said: “I’m not in favor of offshore drilling.” A catastrophe on the scale of the Deepwater Horizon explosion and oil leak in 2010 would be disastrous for one of the state’s most precious resources, the Chesapeake Bay watershed.”
“South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster (R) is opposed out of concern over drilling’s impact on the state’s natural resources. New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie fired off a letter to the Interior agency that issues permits saying the state “strongly opposes any waters off our coastline being considered for inclusion in this leasing program,” citing its $44 billion beach tourism industry that creates more than 300,000 jobs.”
The Democratic governors of North Carolina and Delaware are also opposed. Republican Gov. Rick Scott of Florida, where beach tourism on the Atlantic and Gulf coasts generates nearly $50 billion dollars and a half million jobs annually, according to a Florida Atlantic University report, said Thursday that he adamantly opposes drilling off the state’s coast and requested a meeting with Zinke.
Governor Scott’s Statement on Trump Administration’s Plan on Offshore Oil Drilling:
“The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, which oversees offshore leasing, promised that the environment would be protected. “American energy production can be competitive while remaining safe and environmentally sound,” Vincent DeVito, Interior’s counselor for energy policy, said at the time. “People need jobs, the Gulf Coast states need revenue, and Americans do not want to be dependent on foreign oil.”
“On Thursday, the Interior Department suspended a study conducted by the National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine on the safety of offshore oil and gas drilling platforms.”
“Offshore drilling caused one of the worst environmental disasters in U.S. history, the 2010 Deepwater Horizon explosion and subsequent spill of 215 million gallons of crude into the Gulf that fouled beaches from Louisiana to Florida. The effects of the spill are still being felt more than seven years later.”
On January 4, 2018, Joelle Grande of the Washington Press penned the following report, “Florida lawmakers just defied Trump in stunning bipartisan rebuke of new proposal.”
Excerpts:
“One of Trump’s latest despicable announcements has inspired bipartisan action in Florida.”
“Two Florida lawmakers, Republican representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen and Democratic Senator Bill Nelson have teamed up to demand the administration shut down a proposal to expand offshore drilling for oil.”
Ros-Lehtinen announced her participation on Twitter.
Nelson expressed his opposition on twitter earlier in the day.
This plan is an assault on Florida’s economy, our national security, the will of the public, and the environment. This proposal defies all common sense and I will do everything I can to defeat it. https://twitter.com/AP/status/948974311024537601 …
“That spill affected the Florida economy and took the lives of 11 Florida residents.”
“The lawmakers announced their intent to use the Congressional Review Act to try to block the proposal, but it’s speculated that it would likely fail without broad public support.”
“That’s because, ironically, the Act requires the President’s signature in order to take effect.”
“The administration announced earlier today plans to seriously increase offshore drilling for oil in both the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans. It was immediately met with outcries from state lawmakers and environmental groups. Many see it as a total giveaway to the fossil fuel industry.”
Gronda Morin 
Reblogged this on ravenhawks' magazine and commented:
I am rapidly coming to the conclusion that this president is attempting to destroy this country from the inside. Every choice he makes is designed to damage the land and the environment.
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Dear Ravenhwks magazine,
I couldn’t agree more.
The president’s actions are so crass that if and when the Dems win the majority seats in the US Congress, that those in charge of the intelligence committees finally take their oversight duties seriously by subpoenaing his IRS tax returns. I want to know how much monies that he has invested in fossil fuel industry stocks.
Then I want to know just how those sycophant republicans in the US Congress and who supported the president in this venture benefited financially from any of their investments in the fossil fuel sector of our economy.
Thanks a million times over for all of your support and for this reblog.
Hugs, Gronda
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I propose we build a wall! The wall that I envision would surround tRump tower and after it is finished my plan would be to toss Donnie tRump inside the wall, and turn off the power services to the tower…. 😉
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Dear Crustyolemothman
Wouldn’t we just love to wall the president in, to keep him from doing any further harm to the US national security interests?
It’s too bad that those republican sycophants working in the US Congress are failing to wall him in, figuratively, by just doing their oversight duties as detailed in their oaths of office which they all took.
Hugs, Gronda
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Gronda, great post. In general, this man seems to be drawn to actions that tick off large interest groups. Many states and coastal communities that rely on fishing and tourism are against this.
Yet, I just read a Reuters article how Trump’s energy policy has segments of the fossil fuel industry at odds with each other. Short sighted decisions have ticked off coal, natural gas, biofuels, renewables, nuclear folks. Competing factions and their legislators curry changes that in turn make the others mad. Yet, what is lost is market forces dictate what is happening – utilities are just not building new coal and decommissioning old. A failed nuclear build has cost Westinghouse and now SCANA which is being sold because of the cost borne after shuttering the plant under construction. And, renewables continue to fall in price and more countries and cities have announced bans on gas powered cars in the future.
Jeopardizing our coast makes less sense given what the future holds. Keith
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Dear Keith,
Since I have come to look at President Trump as completely self serving, I suspect that he has probably invested in the fossil fuel industry and thus, he is acting accordingly. He is enacting policies that enrich himself, personally and then coming up with the standard bogus justifications like this move will increase jobs and/ or this is part of the plan for the US to become energy independent.
This man doesn’t care about the harm he is doing.
Hugs, Gronda
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Gronda, the “immediate gratification” comment from the author of “Fire and Fury” about Trump rings true on just about any decision. How does it make me look now? He is less concerned with cleaning up future messes he helps make. Keith
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Reblogged this on Musings on Life & Experience and commented:
The President has done it again. This is horrible.
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Dear Suzanne,
The president continues to do harm to this country and its peoples. He can’t stop himself from acting out.
Thanks a million times for all of your support and for this reblog.
Hugs, Gronda
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