Florida's Exemption From Offshore Drilling Plan Called 'Political Stunt'

The Trump administration will exclude Florida from its controversial offshore oil drilling plan after a plea from the state governor, Rick Scott.
“I support the governor's position that Florida is unique and its coasts are heavily reliant on tourism as an economic driver," Interior Sec. Ryan Zinke said Tuesday. “As a result of discussion with Governor Scott and his leadership, I am removing Florida from consideration for any new oil and gas platforms."
President Trump's proposal to massively expand offshore oil and natural gas drilling off the Pacific and Atlantic coasts drew criticism from liberals and conservatives alike, who warn that such operations at sea could expose coastal areas to the risks of blowouts, explosions, catastrophic spills and seismic blasting.
Republican Gov. Scott—who usually favors fossil fuels and offshore drilling—reversed course and issued an unexpected condemnation of the proposal.
"My top priority is to ensure that Florida's natural resources are protected," he said after the Trump administration's announcement last week.
Some have questioned whether exempting Florida was a " political ploy" to aid Scott, who is reportedly planning to run for U.S. Senate. Florida is also a crucial swing state and home to President Trump's Palm Beach resort, Mar-a-Lago.
"I have spent my entire life fighting to keep oil rigs away from our coasts. But now, suddenly, Secretary Zinke announces plans to drill off Florida's coast and four days later agrees to 'take Florida off the table'? I don't believe it," Democratic incumbent Bill Nelson said in a statement. "This is a political stunt orchestrated by the Trump administration to help Rick Scott, who has wanted to drill off Florida's coast his entire career. We shouldn't be playing politics with the future of Florida."
After talking with @FLGovScott, I am removing #Florida from the draft offshore plan. https://t.co/lZIfdCDNOR— Secretary Ryan Zinke (@Secretary Ryan Zinke)1515540051.0
Environmental groups casted similar doubts.
"It's blatantly obvious that Governor Rick Scott and the Trump administration are colluding to earn political points in an election year," said Jorge Aguilar, southern region director of Food & Water Watch. "While the decision to remove Florida from offshore drilling is a good one, the Trump administration should drop its dangerous and foolhardy plan to drill around the U.S."
Sierra Club Florida Director Frank Jackalone said the decision was "a purely political move to aid the ambitions of Rick Scott."
"Had Zinke cared about the wishes of coastal communities or how drilling off their coasts will affect them," Jackalone added, "he would have proposed a plan that shrinks drilling even further, not proposed expanding operations to nearly every corner of our waters."
The plan to exempt Florida from offshore drilling also sparked outcry from other state lawmakers opposed to offshore drilling.
“Virginia's governor (and governor-elect) have made this same request, but we have not received the same commitment. Wonder why ..." Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) tweeted Tuesday.
Virginia’s governor (and governor-elect) have made this same request, but we have not received the same commitment.… https://t.co/uu3KxGA4xg— Tim Kaine (@Tim Kaine)1515543038.0
"New York doesn't want drilling off our coast either," New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo tweeted. “Where do we sign up for a waiver @SecretaryZinke?"
New York doesn't want drilling off our coast either. Where do we sign up for a waiver @SecretaryZinke? https://t.co/dt1rJAEna1— Andrew Cuomo (@Andrew Cuomo)1515546105.0
California Attorney General Xavier Becerra demanded Zinke to "immediately" remove California from the policy.
.@SecretaryZinke: California is also "unique" & our "coasts are heavily reliant on tourism as an economic driver."… https://t.co/kI6ytIITbN— Xavier Becerra (@Xavier Becerra)1515544741.0
Filmmaker and outspoken Trump critic Michael Moore—who threatened to frack off the coast of the president's Florida vacation home after offshore drilling expansion was announced—also responded to the state's removal from the proposal.
"WAIT! WHAT? Trump's removing Florida from the list of states to do offshore drilling after I've already rented my fracking equipment to drill off Mar-a-Lago? Three days after I announce, he does this? Bastard!"
WAIT! WHAT? Trump’s removing Florida from the list of states to do offshore drilling after I’ve already rented my f… https://t.co/BYyrJzpzTG— Michael Moore (@Michael Moore)1515553940.0
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The speed and scale of the response to COVID-19 by governments, businesses and individuals seems to provide hope that we can react to the climate change crisis in a similarly decisive manner - but history tells us that humans do not react to slow-moving and distant threats.
A Game of Jenga
<p>Think of it as a game of Jenga and the planet's climate system as the tower. For generations, we have been slowly removing blocks. But at some point, we will remove a pivotal block, such as the collapse of one of the major global ocean circulation systems, for example the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC), that will cause all or part of the global climate system to fall into a planetary emergency.</p><p>But worse still, it could cause runaway damage: Where the tipping points form a domino-like cascade, where breaching one triggers breaches of others, creating an unstoppable shift to a radically and swiftly changing climate.</p><p>One of the most concerning tipping points is mass methane release. Methane can be found in deep freeze storage within permafrost and at the bottom of the deepest oceans in the form of methane hydrates. But rising sea and air temperatures are beginning to thaw these stores of methane.</p><p>This would release a powerful greenhouse gas into the atmosphere, 30-times more potent than carbon dioxide as a global warming agent. This would drastically increase temperatures and rush us towards the breach of other tipping points.</p><p>This could include the acceleration of ice thaw on all three of the globe's large, land-based ice sheets – Greenland, West Antarctica and the Wilkes Basin in East Antarctica. The potential collapse of the West Antarctic ice sheet is seen as a key tipping point, as its loss could eventually <a href="https://science.sciencemag.org/content/324/5929/901" target="_blank">raise global sea levels by 3.3 meters</a> with important regional variations.</p><p>More than that, we would be on the irreversible path to full land-ice melt, causing sea levels to rise by up to 30 meters, roughly at the rate of two meters per century, or maybe faster. Just look at the raised beaches around the world, at the last high stand of global sea level, at the end of the Pleistocene period around 120,0000 years ago, to see the evidence of such a warm world, which was just 2°C warmer than the present day.</p>Cutting Off Circulation
<p>As well as devastating low-lying and coastal areas around the world, melting polar ice could set off another tipping point: a disablement to the AMOC.</p><p>This circulation system drives a northward flow of warm, salty water on the upper layers of the ocean from the tropics to the northeast Atlantic region, and a southward flow of cold water deep in the ocean.</p><p>The ocean conveyor belt has a major effect on the climate, seasonal cycles and temperature in western and northern Europe. It means the region is warmer than other areas of similar latitude.</p><p>But melting ice from the Greenland ice sheet could threaten the AMOC system. It would dilute the salty sea water in the north Atlantic, making the water lighter and less able or unable to sink. This would slow the engine that drives this ocean circulation.</p><p><a href="https://www.carbonbrief.org/atlantic-conveyor-belt-has-slowed-15-per-cent-since-mid-twentieth-century" target="_blank">Recent research</a> suggests the AMOC has already weakened by around 15% since the middle of the 20th century. If this continues, it could have a major impact on the climate of the northern hemisphere, but particularly Europe. It may even lead to the <a href="https://ore.exeter.ac.uk/repository/handle/10871/39731?show=full" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">cessation of arable farming</a> in the UK, for instance.</p><p>It may also reduce rainfall over the Amazon basin, impact the monsoon systems in Asia and, by bringing warm waters into the Southern Ocean, further destabilize ice in Antarctica and accelerate global sea level rise.</p>The Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation has a major effect on the climate. Praetorius (2018)
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<p>At what stage, and at what rise in global temperatures, will these tipping points be reached? No one is entirely sure. It may take centuries, millennia or it could be imminent.</p><p>But as COVID-19 taught us, we need to prepare for the expected. We were aware of the risk of a pandemic. We also knew that we were not sufficiently prepared. But we didn't act in a meaningful manner. Thankfully, we have been able to fast-track the production of vaccines to combat COVID-19. But there is no vaccine for climate change once we have passed these tipping points.</p><p><a href="https://www.weforum.org/reports/the-global-risks-report-2021" target="_blank">We need to act now on our climate</a>. Act like these tipping points are imminent. And stop thinking of climate change as a slow-moving, long-term threat that enables us to kick the problem down the road and let future generations deal with it. We must take immediate action to reduce global warming and fulfill our commitments to the <a href="https://www.ipcc.ch/sr15/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Paris Agreement</a>, and build resilience with these tipping points in mind.</p><p>We need to plan now to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions, but we also need to plan for the impacts, such as the ability to feed everyone on the planet, develop plans to manage flood risk, as well as manage the social and geopolitical impacts of human migrations that will be a consequence of fight or flight decisions.</p><p>Breaching these tipping points would be cataclysmic and potentially far more devastating than COVID-19. Some may not enjoy hearing these messages, or consider them to be in the realm of science fiction. But if it injects a sense of urgency to make us respond to climate change like we have done to the pandemic, then we must talk more about what has happened before and will happen again.</p><p>Otherwise we will continue playing Jenga with our planet. And ultimately, there will only be one loser – us.</p>By John R. Platt
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