Here's an idea we can all get behind: No more oil drilling off the coast of Florida

News and views for discerning Floridians and other Americans

Deep Water Horizon

Republicans and Democrats are so often at one another’s throats that it may seem that’s just the natural order of the universe.

But sometimes they find common ground. Or, perhaps in this case, common water.

The great unification event?

President Donald Trump’s proposal to “drill, baby, drill” in the Gulf of Mexico. Off Florida’s pristine beaches. Which, for the record, are not covered in oil. Yet.

Cue memories of Deepwater Horizon.

That was the oil drilling platform in the Gulf that in 2010 blew up, belching 210 million gallons of oil into the Gulf, one of the largest environmental disasters in the history of the world.

Remember scenes like this:

Members of Florida’s congressional delegation do, Democrats and Republicans alike, and they don’t want it to happen again. Neither do their voters. Of both parties.

Not just because it’s disgusting and bad for the environment. It’s bad for business, too. Here in Florida—with our miles and miles of tourist-friendly beaches—crude oil washing ashore does not make for great vacation postcards.

The military isn’t all that fond of the idea of more oil derricks in the Gulf, either. They use the Gulf to practice bombing runs—at least when they’re not otherwise occupied shooting up Venezuelan fishing boats in the Caribbean Sea.

Which is why a few days ago, Trump got a message from every single member of Congress from Florida, both Republican senators, all 20 Republicans and 8 Democrats in the House.

The letter read:

“The recent announcement from the Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) on their proposed five-year offshore leasing plan, announced November 20, 2025, includes a “new” planning area called the South-Central Gulf of America. If this plan were to move forward, the area would clearly fall within the area protected under your moratorium in a clear violation of your 2020 Executive Order. This area also falls within the Gulf Test Range, a critical military training area used by several military forces along Florida’s Panhandle for advanced military testing, training, and evaluation of air and weapons systems.

“The Gulf Test Range, remains an integral part of Department of War training to ensure mission readiness and is supported by multiple military bases in Florida’s Panhandle. Collectively, these bases employ tens of thousands of military and civilian personnel and are of critical importance to national security. Eglin Air Force Base alone supports 20,000 personnel, provides the country with $11 billion in economic impact every year, and currently boasts 123,000 square miles of water range, which would all have to be reduced in an instance of an encroachment of the Gulf Test Range. The Gulf Test Range is the largest multi-domain military training and testing complex in the country, and its unique geographic characteristics enable critical preparation for real-world contingencies. Protecting this range from encroachment, including oil exploration, is essential. Over 50,000 jobs in the Panhandle depend directly on operations at these military facilities connected to the Gulf Test Range.”

You will note, they leaned heavily into the implications for the military, less so for oil-covered beaches and seabirds.

They were also careful to call the Gulf of Mexico by Trump’s new pet name, Gulf of America, lest they set him off. And they referred to the Defense Department as the Department of War, which it is not.

But whatever works.

Gov. Ron DeSantis also weighed in, saying the proposal to add new drilling leases would “weaken” environmental protections.

The Sierra Club Florida was a little more blunt:

“President Trump and his administration may be eager to hand out blank checks to oil and gas companies, but it will not be at Florida’s expense,” Javier Estevez, the group’s political and legislative director, said in a written statement. “We refuse to allow our coastal economies, quality of life, and irreplaceable natural resources to be sacrificed for corporate profit.

“Any such proposal is dead on arrival, and we will work tirelessly to ensure our coasts are protected.”

In other words, no more of this:

Pensacola Beach

It’s comforting to know there are still some things most of us can see eye-to-eye on, isn’t it?

Now, if we could all just agree that renaming the Gulf of Mexico is an embarrassment, the world would be an even better place.

J.C. Bruce, journalist and author, is the founder of Tropic Press. He holds dual citizenship in the United States of America and his native Florida.

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