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Trump announces extension of oil and gas moratorium in eastern Gulf of Mexico

September 10, 2020

JUPITER — President Donald Trump on Tuesday signed an executive order extending for 10 years — until 2032 — a moratorium on expansion of oil and gas exploration in the eastern Gulf of Mexico, site of a massive military test range and a vital part of the state's tourism economy.

In addition to the eastern Gulf of Mexico, Trump's moratorium also applies to the Atlantic coasts of Florida, South Carolina and Georgia.

Trump was in Jupiter, just two months prior to the presidential election, to tout various environmental initiatives of his administration in Florida, now his home state. The crowd, including a number of elected officials — Gov. Ron DeSantis among them — erupted into loud applause as Trump announced the executive order extending the moratorium.

"I guess you liked that one the best of all," the president said of the moratorium.

Trump said the moratorium was extended as a result of "close consultation" with DeSantis, Florida U.S. Sens. Rick Scott and Marco Rubio, South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham and South Carolina Rep. Tim Scott. Trump also thanked South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster and Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp, along with other elected officials from the three states.

"Thanks to my administration's pro-American energy policies, we can take this step and the next step while remaining the number-one producer of oil and natural gas anywhere in the world ...," Trump said.

"With fracking, the shale revolution and the tremendous surge in American energy production, we're showing that we can create jobs, safeguard the environment and keep energy prices low for our citizens."

Trump then took a political turn, contending that Democratic energy policies "will cause energy prices to double and triple and quadruple ... and very importantly, they'll take away our energy independence."

The executive order, directing the U.S. Department of the Interior not to issue any oil and gas leases in the eastern Gulf of Mexico, could, however, be rescinded by future administrations at any point between now and 2032.

Nonetheless, Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., whose Northwest Florida congressional district includes Eglin Air Force Base, which oversees the 120,000-square-mile Eglin Gulf Test and Training Range, was taking credit Tuesday for a win in his efforts to support and protect the test range.

"This is my greatest achievement as Northwest Florida's congressman," said Gaetz, a staunch ally of the president, of the executive order. Gaetz said he had pressed the case for the moratorium with the president, in part by relying on the long string of local government resolutions across his district expressing support for the test range and local tourism and opposition to the expansion of oil and gas exploration.

Trump's signing of the executive order is, Gaetz said, "a home run day for us."

Asked whether Trump's signing of the executive order might be a political move, with the presidential election now less than two months away, Gaetz said, "I don't care if it's politics, or if it's pumpernickel bread."

The latest NBC News/Marist polling in Florida has Trump tied with Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden, but other current polling in the state has the former vice president with a 3-point lead in the race, according to the RealClearPolitics website.

The executive order, Gaetz said, "gives us comfort, but it also gives us predictability," including further investments in the Gulf Test Range such as technology improvements, for which Gaetz has consistently worked in Congress.

The signing of the executive order comes a little more than a month after Trump, in somewhat cryptic comments to Spectrum News after stepping off Air Force One in Tampa, said he had already signed an order halting drilling in the eastern Gulf of Mexico.

"Well, we're not gonna be drilling, and I've already put out that order — actually quite a while ago," the president said at the time.