- The Trump administration's announcement to exempt Florida from its plan to expand offshore drilling is opening the way for other states to seek exemptions and handing offshore drilling foes ammunition for lawsuits.
- The governors of North and South Carolina have requested their own meetings with Interior Secretary Zinke, while others issued sharply worded Tweets and other statements.
- The Interior Department has wide discretion but must show it has considered affected states and treated them fairly or risk legal challenges under the Administrative Procedure Act, and thus the drilling proposal now may be vulnerable to legal claims that it was arbitrarily put together if the government does not consider other states’ opposition or prove that Florida is different from other coastal states, legal experts say.
- “Through this [response to Florida's governor], they’ve provided an avenue of veto for every governor,” says David Hayes, a former Interior deputy secretary. “Generally, an agency like the Interior Department thinks before it acts.”
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