President Trump signed a memorandum Sept. 8 extending the moratorium on oil and gas drilling in the eastern Gulf of Mexico by 10 years and expanding the moratorium to Atlantic federal waters off the coasts of Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina.
Trump announced the decision at a political gathering in Jupiter, Fla., where he stressed environmental protection as part of his policies. Both Republicans and Democrats in Florida have been opposed to oil and gas drilling off the coast of their state.
The leasing moratorium for the eastern Gulf of Mexico was set to expire in the middle of 2022. Under authority of the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act, the president extended that moratorium from July 1, 2022, to June 30, 2032.
He also applied that 10-year moratorium to “the areas currently designated by the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management as the South Atlantic and Straits of Florida Planning Areas,” meaning Atlantic waters off Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina.
Contrasting reactions
The announcement seemed to please several members of Trump’s audience in the Palm Beach County city of Jupiter. “Four more years!” an audience member cried, and others applauded.
Oil industry responses to the announcement were moderate rather than combative. Erik Milito, president of the National Ocean Industries Association, issued a statement advocating domestic energy production, but he did not sharply criticize Trump’s decision.
“The American offshore should be the region of choice for energy production,” Milito said. “Our preference always should be to produce homegrown American energy.”
The eastern Gulf of Mexico has long been known to have oil and gas reserves, and several companies maintain their leasing rights in the area under the moratorium. Those rights are not abrogated by the moratorium, but the leaseholders cannot develop their sites within 125 miles of Florida.
Development in the eastern Gulf could involve a practical expansion of existing oil and gas infrastructure from the central Gulf, in the view of petroleum geologists.
Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-Ariz.), issued a statement saying the Trump administration bowed to overwhelming public pressure in the decision on the moratorium.
