I use my position as a senior appropriator on the Energy and Water Appropriations Subcommittee to support a national energy strategy that promotes and facilitates a rapid transition to clean, renewable, domestic sources of energy that will fuel an economy that is sustainable, while protecting our environment and promoting our national security. I believe it is critical that we use smart, forward-thinking energy policy to address the climate crisis and prevent the worst consequences of climate change by dramatically reducing our emissions of greenhouse gases.

While we address climate change and continue our national transition to renewable sources of energy, we must protect our precious coastlines from the threat of offshore oil and gas drilling. Throughout my legislative career, I have consistently led the fight against any expansion of drilling off the coast of Florida. As the explosion at BP’s Deepwater Horizon and the subsequent oil spill have shown us, offshore drilling could easily bring oil slicks to Florida’s coasts, and even penetrate the Florida Everglades, an ecosystem that is still in recovery. Oil spills threaten our state’s vulnerable coastal ecosystems, which are home to some of our most precious and diverse wildlife.  And now more than ever, we need to be pushing for the expansion of clean and renewable energy sources, not taking steps backward to open more areas for fossil fuel development and extraction.

I continue to oppose efforts to expand offshore oil and gas exploration, including proposing a permanent ban on oil and gas drilling around Florida’s coasts, while working to ensure that we can adequately and rapidly respond when spills do inevitably occur.