In a letter sent last week to Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke, U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson is leading a group of 16 Florida congressional representatives asking to avoid drilling off the state’s west coast in the Gulf of Mexico.
Eleven Democratic U.S. representatives and five Republican U.S. representatives, including Vern Buchanan, R-Longboat Key, signed the letter.
“Drilling in this area threatens Florida’s multi-billion-dollar, tourism-driven economy and is incompatible with the military training and weapons testing that occurs there,” the letter reads.
Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke recently announced 73 million acres off the coast of Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida would be offered at a lease sale in August as part of the Interior Department’s five-year leasing plan.
