Sen. Bill Nelson today sent a letter to Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke and Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross strongly urging the new administration to keep oil and gas drilling away from the Florida Keys.
Nelson’s letter comes in response to an executive order the president signed Friday ordering the Department of the Interior to determine how many energy and mineral resources are available in designated national marine sanctuaries, such as the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary.
Nelson, who filed legislation last week that would block the Interior Secretary from opening additional areas to offshore drilling until at least 2022, cited the significant environmental and economic impact that drilling in the Florida Keys sanctuary would have on Florida.
“Against clear congressional intent, the president’s Executive Order directs your departments to tally the oil and minerals contained in national marine sanctuaries like the Florida Keys,” Nelson wrote. “Seismic testing and other preleasing drilling activities directly conflict with the laws that created the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary and I strongly urge you to refrain from allowing any oil and gas activities in the Florida Keys.”
Below is the full text of Nelson’s letter, and here is a signed PDF copy.
May 1, 2017
The Honorable Wilbur Ross
Secretary
U.S. Department of Commerce
1401 Constitution Ave NW
Washington, DC 20230
The Honorable Ryan Zinke
Secretary
U.S. Department of the Interior
1849 C Street NW
Washington, DC 20240
Dear Secretary Zinke and Secretary Ross,
I am gravely concerned that the Presidential Executive Order issued Friday, April 28th, represents a significant economic and environmental threat to Florida—and it violates both the spirit and the text of the law regarding National Marine Sanctuaries.
The Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary (NMS) is a gem among many in Florida’s tourism-based economy, generating $4.4 billion in annual revenue for the local community and supporting over 70,000 jobs. It is home to over 6000 species of marine life, the third largest living coral barrier reef system in the world, and an estimated 1,000 shipwrecks. Fourteen historic sites in Florida Keys NMS are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
This area is of such national importance that in response to environmental threats, including oil drilling, Congress designated the Florida Keys as a National Marine Sanctuary in 1990 “to protect and preserve living and other resources of the Florida Keys marine environment.”
Against clear congressional intent, the president’s Executive Order directs your departments to tally the oil and minerals contained in national marine sanctuaries like the Florida Keys—presumably by using seismic air gun blasts in some of the most sensitive and important habitats in our ocean.
Seismic testing and other preleasing drilling activities directly conflict with the laws that created the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary and I strongly urge you to refrain from allowing any oil and gas activities in the Florida Keys.
Sincerely,
