Blog by Frank Knapp Jr., President & CEO of the South Carolina Small Business Chamber of Commerce
November 1, 2020
Representative Steve Scalise (R-LA), the minority leader in the US House, has said out loud what I have been warning about since President Trump’s September 8th Executive Order declaring a 10-year moratorium on offshore drilling in the Atlantic and Eastern Gulf (here and here).
Should Donald Trump be re-elected, that Executive Order won’t last. It was just a political ploy to put anti-drilling Florida voters at ease enough to get their vote.
So, with a newly-elected Trump we will again be fighting to protect the Atlantic Coast from offshore oil exploration and drilling. But with four more years to pursue his U.S. energy dominance agenda, this time he will succeed.
Speaking with a local Louisiana newspaper, Scalise felt safe in revealing the post-election plan should Trump be re-elected:
After the election, he said, there may be chance to negotiate with Florida lawmakers and the Trump administration to open some of the deep waters of the eastern Gulf of Mexico to oil and gas exploration, he said.
Scalise and the other drill-baby-drill crowd are just waiting for the election results to be finally know.
If it goes their way, they are ready to move their agenda forward quickly.
Offshore drilling in the Atlantic and Eastern Gulf is on the ballot