Bill Nelson Plans to Block Drilling Off Florida Gulf Coast

With the U.S. Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee voting to open up the eastern part of the Gulf of Mexico up for drilling on Thursday, U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., wrote Senate leadership informing them he would block the measure. 

Currently, there is a federal moratorium on drilling in the area until 2022 which extends as close as 125 miles off the coast of Florida (and goes to 235 miles to waters where the military trains). U.S. Sen. Bill Cassidy’s, R-La., bill would end the moratorium and allow drilling 50 miles off the coast of Florida. 

Nelson wrote U.S. Sen. Majority Leader Mitch McConnel, R-Ky., and U.S. Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., informing them he would block Cassidy‘s bill. 

“If any measure to repeal the current moratorium on offshore drilling in the eastern Gulf of Mexico comes before the full Senate for a vote, I will use all available procedural options to block it,” Nelson wrote.