{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://castor.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=405079", "Castor Blasts Trump Administration\u2019s Illegal Plan to Open Florida\u2019s Coast to Offshore Drilling", "2025-11-20", "2025", "2025-11", "Democrat", "House", "FL", "Kathy Castor", "C001066", "castor.house.gov", "castor", "https://castor.house.gov/news/documentquery.aspx", "scraper", "U.S. Rep. Kathy Castor (FL-14) today strongly condemned the Trump Administration\u2019s proposal to open areas off Florida\u2019s Gulf Coast to offshore oil and gas drilling.\n\n\u201cPresident Trump is selling out Floridians to boost the profits of Big Oil donors. Floridians banned oil and gas drilling in state waters with almost 70% support for 2018. Drilling in federal waters off Florida\u2019s Gulf Coast is far too risky after the economic and environmental damage from the BP Deepwater Horizon blowout and Hurricanes Ian, Helene and Milton.\n\n\u201cOur oceans and coasts are too unique and too critical to our way of life to encourage offshore drilling. Florida is a special but fragile place, and our economy depends on clean water, clean beaches and an affordable way for families to recreate and unwind. Drilling puts our national security at risk by disrupting critical military training conducted off Florida\u2019s coasts. That\u2019s why the Biden Administration acted to permanently protect the Eastern Gulf of Mexico under the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act. But today, the Trump Administration is proposing to lease areas off Florida\u2019s coast that have long been protected by Congress.\n\n\u201cTrump\u2019s Interior Department knows drilling in the Eastern Gulf is illegal, but they plan to hold lease sales anyway. That is why Congress must pass my bipartisan Florida Coastal Protection Act to enshrine permanent coastal protections in law and protect Florida\u2019s waters, our planet, our pocketbooks and our people from costly oil disasters.\n\n\u201cFifteen years after the BP spill, people are still struggling and communities are still using recovery funds to rebuild. Big Oil doesn\u2019t need more help; they already sit on thousands of unused leases and receive $14 billion in taxpayer subsidies each year.\n\n\u201cAfter shutting down the government for seven weeks, it\u2019s telling that President Trump\u2019s priority is pushing a pro-polluter agenda. While hardworking families face a crushing cost-of-living crisis, Republicans are doubling down to sell off America\u2019s oceans to their polluter friends. It\u2019s not needed, not wanted and it\u2019s another example of callous disregard for hardworking Americans.\u201d\n\nIn January, the Biden-Harris Administration used its authority to permanently protect the Eastern Gulf of Mexico\u2014including military training ranges, coastal ecosystems and the tourism and fishing industries central to Florida\u2019s economy.\n\nCastor\u2019s bipartisan Florida Coastal Protection Act would codify a permanent ban on oil and gas drilling off Florida\u2019s coast, safeguarding the state from the environmental and economic threats of offshore drilling.", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T19:52:45Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://castor.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=405079"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.7836129516363144, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}