Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is pushing back against Trump administration plans on offshore drilling and artificial intelligence.
The Republican governor spoke at a press conference in Crystal River Friday morning, one day after the U.S. Department of Interior announced plans to offer new oil and gas leases in a swath of the Gulf about a hundred miles off the Florida coast.
The plan would also open the California coast to offshore drilling. The announcement said it reflects “the Trump administration’s continued commitment to restoring American Energy Dominance.”
DeSantis said the change is counter to a "very thoughtful policy" by President Donald Trump in 2020, when he extended a ban on offshore drilling in the Southeast until 2032.
“Now what the Interior Department is proposing to do is really to go back off that policy, and I think that would weaken protections that we worked very hard to establish offshore,” DeSantis said.
Advocates for the environment and Florida lawmakers have also opposed the opening of the area to offshore drilling. Republican Sen. Rick Scott said on social media that he is making it clear to the Interior secretary that the moratorium must remain in place “to protect Florida's tourism, environment and military training opportunities.”
The Trump administration has also drafted an executive order going after states that develop their own laws restricting AI, according to several national news outlets.
But that's exactly what DeSantis says he wants to do.
“We're going to be rolling out some good policies on AI,” he said. “You know, there's some people saying, well, the federal government should just take over and not let the states do anything. I reject that.”
DeSantis said he wants to prevent the targeting of children and the misuse of a person's likeness and to protect utility customers from rising costs tied to data centers.
