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Florida Coastal Protection Act
To amend the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act to prohibit oil and natural gas exploration, development, and production in certain areas of the Outer Continental Shelf off the coast of Florida, and for other purposes.
Summary
The bill amends federal law to prohibit the issuance of new leases or authorizations for oil and natural gas exploration, development, or production in three designated areas off the Florida coast. The prohibited areas are the Eastern Gulf of Mexico, the portion of the South Atlantic Planning Area south of 30 degrees 43 minutes North Latitude, and the Straits of Florida Planning Area. The prohibition does not affect any leases that were issued before the bill's enactment. The bill effectively prevents new offshore oil and gas operations in these specified waters.
AI-generated plain-language summary of the bill text — neutral, and may be imperfect. See the full text below for the exact wording.
Sponsor (1)
- Rep. Castor, Kathy [D-FL-14] (D-FL)
14 cosponsors
- Del. Norton, Eleanor Holmes [D-DC-At Large] (D-DC)
- Rep. Bilirakis, Gus M. [R-FL-12] (R-FL)
- Rep. Buchanan, Vern [R-FL-16] (R-FL)
- Rep. Cherfilus-McCormick, Sheila [D-FL-20] (D-FL)
- Rep. Fitzpatrick, Brian K. [R-PA-1] (R-PA)
- Rep. Frankel, Lois [D-FL-22] (D-FL)
- Rep. Frost, Maxwell [D-FL-10] (D-FL)
- Rep. Gimenez, Carlos A. [R-FL-28] (R-FL)
- Rep. Moskowitz, Jared [D-FL-23] (D-FL)
- Rep. Rutherford, John H. [R-FL-5] (R-FL)
- Rep. Salazar, Maria Elvira [R-FL-27] (R-FL)
- Rep. Soto, Darren [D-FL-9] (D-FL)
- Rep. Wasserman Schultz, Debbie [D-FL-25] (D-FL)
- Rep. Wilson, Frederica S. [D-FL-24] (D-FL)
Money behind the sponsor
Top reported contributors to Kathy Castor’s campaign committee (2024 cycle) — who funds the bill’s sponsor, not a claim about this bill. Data from FEC.
Organizations whose employees gave the most — itemized individual contributions grouped by the donor’s reported employer (FEC Schedule A). Full finance for Kathy Castor → · Outside spending →
Actions (2)
- Apr 7, 2025 Referred to the House Committee on Natural Resources. · house
- Apr 7, 2025 Introduced in House
Similar bills (6)
Bills with similar text or summary — includes reintroductions across Congresses. Ranked by semantic similarity of the bill text (computed locally); a neutral discovery aid, not a claim the bills are duplicates.
Text versions (1)
Bills are re-published as they move (Introduced → Reported → Engrossed → Enrolled …). Each stage below is a separate text; pick two to see what changed. Data from Congress.gov.
Full text
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
April 7, 2025
Ms. Castor of Florida (for herself, Mr. Buchanan, Mr. Soto, and Mr. Bilirakis) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Natural Resources
A BILL
To amend the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act to prohibit oil and natural gas exploration, development, and production in certain areas of the Outer Continental Shelf off the coast of Florida, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the “Florida Coastal Protection Act”.
SEC. 2. PROHIBITION OF OIL AND NATURAL GAS EXPLORATION, DEVELOPMENT, AND PRODUCTION IN CERTAIN AREAS OFF THE COAST OF FLORIDA.
Section 18 of the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (43 U.S.C. 1344) is amended by adding at the end the following:
“(j) Prohibition of Oil and Natural Gas Exploration, Development, and Production in Certain Areas Off the Coast of Florida.—
“(1) Prohibition.—Notwithstanding any other provision of this section or any other law, the Secretary shall not issue a lease or any other authorization for the exploration, development, or production of oil or natural gas in—
“(A) any area of the Eastern Gulf of Mexico that is referred to in section 104(a) of the Gulf of Mexico Energy Security Act of 2006;
“(B) the portion of the South Atlantic Planning Area, as such planning area is depicted in the 2024- 2029 National Outer Continental Shelf Oil and Gas Leasing Proposed Final Program (September 2023), south of 30 degrees 43 minutes North Latitude; or
“(C) the Straits of Florida Planning Area, as such planning area is depicted in the 2024-2029 National Outer Continental Shelf Oil and Gas Leasing Proposed Final Program (September 2023).
“(2) Limitation on effect.—Nothing in this subsection affects any right under any lease issued under this Act before the date of enactment of this subsection.”. <all>
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