COP 30 just wrapped and this gets announced. Timing is everything
Trump opens parts of Florida, California waters up to offshore oil drilling, breaking decades of precedent
The Trump administration is proposing to open federal waters off the entire coastline of California to drilling, as well as an area off the coast of Florida. Neither state’s waters have been open to new drilling for decades.
President Donald Trump’s Interior Department released a five-year offshore drilling plan on Thursday that would open up vast parts of California’s coastline to drilling, which hasn’t happened in that state since the late 1960s. The Department is also proposing new oil drilling in parts of the Eastern Gulf — located approximately 100 nautical miles off Florida’s coast — a decision opposed by Florida’s Republican leadership.
The Trump administration’s proposal would open the Eastern Gulf to federal oil drilling auctions starting in 2029. It would open auctions for drilling in central and southern California in 2027 and northern California in 2029.
The oil industry has been advocating for opening up parts of the Eastern Gulf that are adjacent to areas where oil production has been happening for decades in the Central Gulf, an industry source told CNN.
