Trump’s Secretary of the Interior, Ryan Zinke, announced today that he will allow Republican-governed Florida to exempt itself from the President’s plan to expand coastal oil drilling, while leaving all other coastal states vulnerable to BP-level oil spills — prompting suspicions that he wants to protect Trump’s Mar-A-Lago resort.
After talking with @FLGovScott, I am removing #Florida from the draft offshore plan. pic.twitter.com/lZIfdCDNOR
— Secretary Ryan Zinke (@SecretaryZinke) January 9, 2018
In a statement defending his decision, Zinke — who has been embroiled in litany of corruption scandals during Trump’s first year in office — rationalized the bizarre Florida carveout by saying that that states’ coasts “are heavily reliant on tourism as an economic driver.”
Read my full statement on taking #Florida off the table for offshore oil and gas. Local voice matters. pic.twitter.com/fJhv0p0CDC
— Secretary Ryan Zinke (@SecretaryZinke) January 9, 2018
Of course, journalists like the AP’s Nick Riccardi immediately pointed out a glaring inconsistency in Zinke’s explanation: all coastal states, not just Republican ones, depend on tourism as a major economic engine.
Florida is apparently “unique” because its coastal areas are heavily reliant on tourism, unlike those in, say, CA or NJ…. https://t.co/yEMaxN3DUm
— Nick Riccardi (@NickRiccardi) January 10, 2018
Plenty of Republican states lie along America’s coasts, as well, and they are not amused by this shifty maneuver, as many of them will have to face voters next year.
36 governor’s seats are up for grabs in 2018, that’s three-quarters of American states and 26 of those seats are Republican.
This offshore drilling plan is also opposed by the Governors of:
– South Carolina
– North Carolina
– Virginia
– Maryland
– Delaware
– New Jersey
– New York
– Connecticut
– Massachusetts
– New HampshireHalf of them are Republicans. And that's just the Atlantic Ocean. https://t.co/PNAtXK7ODk
— Rep. Don Beyer (@RepDonBeyer) January 9, 2018
What could the difference be between all those other Republican states and Florida? Let’s see . . . could it be that President Trump’s “Winter White House,” the Mar-A-Lago resort where he entertains all his foreign conflicts of interest, is located there?
Meanwhile, Republican lawmakers in Democratic states, like Southern California’s Rep. Darrell Issa, are already vulnerable to challengers from across the aisle. By not securing a carveout for their districts, they are opening themselves up to an even greater risk of defeat.
This only makes the drilling issue worse for GOP reps from places like California. Florida got its carveout, where's our carveout, etc https://t.co/RIZhs2odyC
— Josh Barro (@jbarro) January 9, 2018
With this new decision to give preferential treatment to the Mar-A-Lago state, the Trump administration is antagonizing lawmakers from both parties.
After all, by exempting himself from his own oil drilling expansion, the climate-denying president is admitting that it is a toxic environmental hazard, not to mention an eyesore.
With the onslaught of catastrophes that this White House as brought upon itself — from accusations of sexual assault, to a special investigation into a Trump-Russia conspiracy, to a new book exposing internal chaos — it seems they would want to avoid further scrutiny.
Instead, Trump just keeps inviting the disgust of an ever more hostile electorate.
Follow Lucia Brawley on Twitter and at luciabrawley.com.
