The American Petroleum Institute (API) brought its “Explore Offshore” efforts to Florida on Wednesday, calling on expanding energy exploration efforts including in the eastern part of the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic seaboard.

The national “Explore Offshore” campaign, which was launched in June, is led by former U.S. Veterans Affairs Sec. Jim Nicholson, who led the Republican National Committee (RNC), and former U.S. Sen. Jim Webb, D-Va., who ran for the Democratic presidential nomination in the 2016 election cycle.

Leading the “Explore Offshore” efforts in Florida are former Lt. Gov. Jeff Kottkamp and Dr. Miriam Ramirez who served in the Senate of Puerto Rico. Kottkamp served under then Gov. Charlie Crist who has opposed drilling in the Gulf, even calling for a special legislative session on the issue. Crist held that special session after the massive oil spill in the Gulf in 2010.  However, while Crist started drifting to the left and that and other issues to run for the U.S. Senate in 2010 with no party affiliation and eventually join the Democrats, Kottkamp has remained a conservative Republican.

Nicholson was in Tallahassee on Wednesday and made the case for expanding energy exploration in the Sunshine State.

“Our American way of life and the freedoms we enjoy are undoubtedly linked to access to affordable, reliable energy,” Nicholson said. “At the same time, 94 percent of America’s offshore energy resources are completely off-limits to natural gas and oil development, disallowing hundreds of thousands of American jobs and abundant domestic energy supply, and keeping us reliant on foreign sources.

“As we plan ahead as a country, access to our offshore energy resources is a key part of the nation’s economic future and national security, and that is why I am pleased to chair the national Explore Offshore USA coalition,” Nicholson added. “Uniting supporters from Virginia to Florida, we will continue to work to ensure access to our offshore energy resources to support reliable, affordable energy, boost national security, and assure a strong United States economy.”

“Affordable energy is critical to our quality of life in the Sunshine State. We are speaking with our local leaders throughout Florida to discuss ways to maintain our state’s natural beauty and meet the energy needs of our growing population of over 20 million residents and 110 million annual visitors,” Kottkamp said.

“We can support thriving tourism industries here in Florida all while developing offshore energy resources that could create high-paying jobs in our state,” Ramirez said. “We cannot take access to reliable, affordable energy for granted.”

Florida Petroleum Council Director David Mica also weighed in on Wednesday.

“Explore Offshore is a united, bipartisan voice and we are working to ensure that Florida has all options available for boosting job creation and its economic and energy future. As Florida remains one of the largest consumers of energy in the country, offshore development is critical to our energy security and our economy,” Mica said.

Nicholson, Mica and Kottkamp stressed the improvements in technology would lower the chances of something like the Deepwater Horizon spill happening again with Nicholson saying it was “nearly impossible.”

Kottkamp stressed that the group’s efforts were far more about exploration instead of drilling.

“We’re not talking ‘drill, baby, drill.’ We’re talking ‘explore, baby, explore,’” Kottkamp said. “We can do this is a balanced, responsible to protect the environment of Florida.”

Ramirez stressed how more access to energy would help Puerto Ricans hit by Hurricane Maria last year, noting the large number of residents of that island who went without power, stressing “lack of power can literally mean the difference between life and death.”

Noting that oil and natural gas make up most electricity use at the state and national levels, Explore Offshore insisted that energy exploration in the Gulf and off the coast of Florida could lead to more than 56,000 new jobs by 2035 and add $1 billion annually to the state revenue and $2.6 billion in private development.

Bradley Marshall, a staff attorney at Earthjustice, pushed back against Kottkamp’s claims that the Deepwater Horizon impacted other states–namely Louisiana–far more than Florida.

“It’s absurd to claim the Deepwater Horizon spill did not reach Florida, given devastation we experienced from that disaster,” Marshall said. “The reality is that there is no such thing as safe offshore drilling.  In Florida, millions of jobs in the tourism industry are at stake in protecting our beaches.  That’s why so many of Florida’s leaders, regardless of what political party they belong to, have been so protective of our coasts all these years.  The bottom line is that it is irresponsible to threaten Florida’s beaches.  Instead of continuing to invest in the harmful fossil fuels of the past, we should be investing in the clean, renewable energy of the future.  That’s where the jobs are at, and that’s what will protect Florida’s coastal environment.”

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