Florida Voters to Decide Offshore Drilling Ban

On 16 April 2018, the Florida Constitution, the Constitution Revision Commission (CRC) voted to approve eight revisions to be placed on the 2018 General Election ballot for voter consideration.

Among the revisions was P 6004 which would “prohibit the drilling for exploration and extraction of oil and natural gas in specified coastal waters.”

Proposed constitutional revisions on the ballot must secure at least 60 percent voter approval to become law. According to the CRC, a formal report will be submitted to the Florida Secretary of State as soon as possible.

CRC Chairman Carlos Beruff, said his team had traveled across the state to speak directly with citizens about the changes they want to see in the Florida Constitution.

“From protecting our state and territorial waters from oil drilling to strengthening our ethics laws, I commend my fellow Commissioners for their hard work and leadership representing the people of Florida. We are grateful to the thousands of Floridians who participated in this historic process and look forward to letting voters have the final say in November,” said Beruff.

On 4 January 2018, U.S. Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke announced BOEM’s Draft Proposed Program (DPP) for development of the nation’s oil and gas resources in the outer continental shelf (OCS), including opening up lease sales in the eastern Gulf Mexico for the first time since 1988. On 9 January, after meeting with Governor Rick Scott, Zinke announced that Florida is "off the table" for new offshore oil drilling.

The full text of each approved ballot revision is available here.