Expansive Offshore Oil Leasing Plan Slammed By Predictable States

Interior Secretary Doug Burgum announced his department’s new, expansive plan for oil leasing in federal waters on November 20 to widespread support from companies who are eager to invest more capital in exploration projects. But the plan also attracted pushback from predictable states at both ends of the political spectrum and the continental United States.

Those states – California and Florida – rank among the bluest and reddest states in the country from a political standpoint. California Democrats and Florida Republicans rarely see eye to eye on any issue, but they have long agreed about one thing: Neither wants to see more oil and gas drilling rigs situated off their coastlines.

“The Biden administration slammed the brakes on offshore oil and gas leasing and crippled the long-term pipeline of America’s offshore production,” Burgum said in a statement. “By moving forward with the development of a robust, forward-thinking leasing plan, we are ensuring that America’s offshore industry stays strong, our workers stay employed, and our nation remains energy dominant for decades to come.”

The Department of Interior’s (DOI) plan conforms to a January executive order signed by President Donald Trump and language in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act mandating a new leasing plan which dramatically expands areas offered for leasing, including the Pacific coast of California and the Eastern Gulf of America. But DOI has shied away from offering new leases in either region for many years in response to pressure by state officials.

Newsom Slams Oil Leasing Plan: ‘Dead On Arrival’

California Gov. Gavin Newsom didn’t even wait to respond to the plan – he pre-empted its release on November 12 at the COP30 conference in Belem, Brazil. In response to a reporter’s question, Newsom called the plan “dead on arrival” eight days before it actually arrived, which could rank as some sort of record. “I also think it remarkable that [Trump] didn’t promote it in his backyard at Mar-a-Lago; he didn’t promote it off the coast of Florida,” Newsom added in a taunt directed at the White house.

Newsom is far from the first California Governor to advocate against oil and gas drilling off the state’s coast. Opposition to it has in fact been bipartisan in nature, dating back to a significant 1969 oil spill in which a blowout on a platform operated by Union Oil offshore Santa Barbara leaked an estimated 3 million barrels of oil into the ocean, despoiling miles of area beaches.

Governors from both parties, including then-Governor Ronald Reagan, have balked at federal leasing off their coasts since that year, with the most recent federal lease sale there taking place in 1984, during Reagan’s presidency. However, in one of his final actions as President, in fact, Mr. Reagan signed a DOI appropriations bill in September 1988 which extended a leasing ban off the state’s northern coastline.

United Opposition To Oil Leasing In Florida

Florida opposition to federal leasing and drilling in the Eastern Gulf of America dates back more than 20 years, to the governorship of Jeb Bush, whose brother, former President George W. Bush, invoked a moratorium on leasing in the region. During his first term in 2020, in fact, Trump signed an extension of that moratorium through 2032 as a means of taking the issue off the table during his re-election campaign against Democrat Joe Biden.

Reaction to the current shift in policy was quick and unambiguous from Sunshine State officials. Molly Best, spokesperson for Governor Ron DeSantis, said in a statement, “Our Administration supports the 2020 Presidential Memorandum and urges the Department of Interior to reconsider and to conform to the 2020 Trump Administration policy.”

GOP Senator Rick Scott was more expansive, as reported by E&E News: “I have been speaking to [Burgum] and made my expectations clear that this moratorium must remain in place, and that in any plan, Florida’s coasts must remain off the table for oil drilling to protect Florida’s tourism, environment, and military training opportunities.” These are the same reasons for opposition expressed by then-Governor Bush two decades ago.

Horse-Trading On Oil Leasing Ahead

It is likely that both Burgum and the Trump White House anticipated this kind of pushback would come from both of these big coastal states, and even more likely that a focused round of horse-trading will result as DOI seeks congressional approval. Due to their large and influential congressional delegations, California and Florida have been able to kill previous proposals in waters adjacent to their coastlines for decades. There seems little reason to expect a different outcome this time barring some unforeseen shift in the political equation.

Make no mistake: Companies interested in oil leasing and drilling in the U.S. offshore can anticipate more frequent lease sales offering far more robust acreage. But the ongoing opposition from Florida and California will mean the vast preponderance of the new acreage will be situated in the Central and Western thirds of the Gulf of America and offshore Alaska.