PROTECT Florida Act Extends Offshore Drilling Ban Until 2032, Blocks Atlantic Seismic Testing

The “Preserving Recreation, Oceans, Tourism, Environment, and Coastal Towns in Florida Act,” or the PROTECT Florida Act, is pretty straightforward: it hits the pause button on offshore oil and gas activity near Florida’s coasts for another decade.

The Decade-Long Drilling Freeze

This bill focuses on two main areas. First, it extends the existing moratorium on oil and gas leasing in the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Florida. That ban was set to expire in 2022, but the PROTECT Act pushes the expiration date all the way to 2032 (SEC. 2). If you live or work along the Gulf Coast, this means the regulatory certainty you’ve had against new drilling is locked in for another ten years.

Second, and this is a big one, the Act creates a brand-new moratorium for Florida’s Atlantic coast. Specifically, it prohibits the Secretary from offering leases or issuing permits for oil and gas exploration in the Straits of Florida Planning Area and the South Atlantic Planning Area south of Florida’s northern boundary. This ban also runs until June 30, 2032 (SEC. 2).

What’s Really Locked Out

It’s not just drilling that’s being blocked. The bill explicitly prohibits “preleasing, or any related activity, including seismic testing” (SEC. 2). For coastal communities, this is huge. Seismic testing—which involves blasting loud airguns into the ocean floor to map out potential reserves—is incredibly disruptive to marine life, especially to species like the endangered North Atlantic right whale and commercial fish populations. Blocking seismic testing until 2032 means a decade of protection for the ecosystems that support Florida’s massive tourism and fishing industries. Think about the charter boat captains, the dive shop owners, and the hotel workers: their livelihoods are directly tied to clean, quiet ocean waters, and this bill gives them a long-term guarantee.

The Real-World Impact: Certainty for Coastal Economies

For most people, this legislation translates into regulatory stability. If you’re running a business that relies on clean beaches, like a small beachfront restaurant or a kayak rental company, you don’t have to worry about the immediate threat of a major oil spill or the long-term impact of industrial exploration on your local environment. The risk of environmental catastrophe—and the subsequent collapse of local property values and tourism revenue—is essentially shelved until 2032.

On the flip side, this bill is a clear signal to the oil and gas industry that Florida’s coastal waters are off-limits for the foreseeable future. Companies looking to invest in offshore infrastructure or exploration off Florida must look elsewhere. This isn’t a permanent ban, though. The moratorium has a clear sunset date of June 30, 2032. While this provides a decade of protection, it also means that the debate over offshore drilling will almost certainly flare up again as that date approaches.