New report says Trump administration's offshore drilling expansion threatens 11 Florida parks

A new report highlights the countrywide threat of the Trump administration’s expansion of offshore drilling, and Florida is predicted to take an especially hard hit economically.

According to the study by the National Parks Conservation Association and the National Resources Defense Council, of the 68 parks located on the coastline across the nation, 11 are located in the Sunshine State.

In 2017, just roughly 11 million people visited those same Florida parks, which generated upwards of $876 million in economic output and supported more than 9,200 jobs.

Last year, on a nationwide scale, national parks and monuments along the coast contributed more than $5.7 billion in economic output, supporting in excess of 59,000 jobs.

Wipe those numbers away and there's significantly less in not just Florida's pocket each year, but the country at large.

Earlier this year, Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke proposed a new plan for leasing the nation’s federal offshore waters for oil and gas drilling.

As could’ve been imagined with such a significant departure from longstanding environmental policy, the proposal was met with bipartisan opposition from over 250 coastal municipalities, 40 U.S. senators, more than a dozen governors, an array of local and state officials and a number of faith leaders.

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