Build Back Better plan includes permanent ban on offshore oil drilling in Florida waters

The Build Back Better framework before the House has been touted as a strong social services package that includes money for preschool, elder care and parental leave, but also within the document's slew of climate-related initiatives is a permanent ban on offshore drilling along the eastern Gulf Coast.

The bill passed a key procedural vote Friday night, but a final vote is on hold so the Congressional Budget Office can analyze the bill's impact on spending and the debt.

While Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas all have some form of offshore drilling, Florida lawmakers have been aggressive in their extension of a moratorium that's been in place since 2006 banning the activity in Florida's federal waters.

The measure in the Build Back Better bill would permanently ban the activity, meaning less work for advocates and lobbyists in renewing their push each few years as ongoing moratoriums prepare to sunset.

Reintroduced: Bill to permanently ban offshore oil drilling in Gulf of Mexico reintroduced in U.S. House

Moratorium extended: Trump extends moratorium on offshore drilling in eastern Gulf of Mexico

Christian Wagley, Florida/Alabama coastal organizer with nonprofit Healthy Gulf, said the current congressional moratorium is in effect until June 2022. There was an executive action made by President Donald Trump in late 2020 that would extend the moratorium until 2032, but Wagley said it is not legally binding in the same way a congressional action would be.

“It seems like we’re always in this mode to keep raising awareness and keep fighting, and right now, we’re at this cusp of renewable energy and wanting to leave this dirty stuff in the ground,” Wagley said.

“It’s quite clear that drilling in the eastern Gulf of Mexico is a direct threat to our beaches and our economy and our way of life. We got a taste of it in 2010 with the BP oil spill that managed to foul our beaches and economy for a significant amount of time."

U.S. Rep. Kathy Castor, D-Tampa, presented at a Healthy Gulf meeting virtually last week and said she’s confident there’s enough bipartisan support to get the offshore oil drilling measure passed.

“This is not going to be the be all, end all, we’ll have to continue to work to make sure we’re closing out those dirty leaking wells and pipes on the Florida Gulf of Mexico,” she said. “We’re going to have to invest in our communities through resilience but I’m hopeful we’ll pass the permanent ban.”

Castor said another piece of the legislation is funneling resources into communities that have suffered because of offshore oil drilling.

“We know there are so many communities that have carried the burden through generations of those dirty manufacturing plants, those dirty polluting plants, so we want to throw a lot of resources to them to help them clean up,” she said.

Progressives and moderates within the Democratic party both released statements late Friday to signify they’d reached a deal, based on the commitment from moderates to vote on the Build Back Better Act “in no event later than the week of November 15th," according to USA Today.

Emma Kennedy can be reached at ekennedy@pnj.com or 850-480-6979.

This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: Build Back Better plan includes permanent ban on offshore drilling in eastern Gulf