FLORIDA/ENVIRONMENT/OIL/TRUMP POSITION CHANGE: “We’re here today to celebrate our incredible record of natural conservation and environmental protection… In a few moments, I will sign a presidential order extending the moratorium on offshore drilling on Florida’s Gulf Coast and expanding it to Florida’s Atlantic Coast, as well as the coasts of Georgia and South Carolina…
You know, they came to my office — a lot of the senators that I just introduced, and Ron, and everybody — they came to my office. They said that ‘This will make us and make you the number one environmental President since Teddy Roosevelt.’ I said, ‘Huh, that sounds good.’ Because I wasn’t going to do it. I figured, ‘You know, let’s not do it.’ But when they said that, that was like a challenge.”
-Donald Trump, “Remarks by President Trump on Environmental Accomplishments for the People of Florida | Jupiter, FL,” whitehouse.gov, Sep. 8, 2020
[Note: In January 2016, the Trump Administration sought to expand offshore drilling near Florida and other states.]