Last night Nikki Haley went after Governor DeSantis claiming that he was against fracking and that he banned fracking in his state.
DeSantis responded that his state passed a constitutional amendment to ban offshore drilling, but Haley claimed that DeSantis banned it before the vote. She said it twice and when he said it was wrong, she said “check it!”
Watch:
Last night Glenn Kessler did check it and said her framing of the issue is misleading. And that ban she claimed DeSantis enacted before the vote on the constitutional amendment? Kessler says it is “flat wrong”:
This is complicated, but Haley’s framing is misleading. Running for president, DeSantis has advocated for fracking. But he has opposed it in Florida. When he ran for governor, he pledged “to pass legislation that bans fracking in the state.”
In November 2018, Florida voters passed a constitutional amendment that banned drilling under Florida waters, a stance supported by many of the state’s Republicans. But it did not mention fracking.
Two days into his term, on Jan. 10, 2019, DeSantis signed an executive order that implemented the measure. The order directed the Department of Environmental Protection to “take necessary actions to adamantly oppose all off-shore oil and gas activities off every coast in Florida and hydraulic fracturing in Florida.” In effect, according to PolitiFact, that has meant no oil and gas permit authorizing hydraulic fracturing has been issued during his term as governor.
Tangling with DeSantis, Haley twice made a statement that was flat wrong: “You banned it before they voted.” The vote on the amendment took place before DeSantis was elected.
He wasn’t even elected when the states voters approved the amendment. She said ‘check it’ and it turns out he is right and she’s the one that’s wrong.
As far as offshore drilling goes in Florida, I am learning that it is deeply unpopular among both parties given that they are a tourism state, especially since the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. Which is why they passed the constitutional amendment. Gaetz has said they also oppose it because of a 120,000-square-mile Gulf Test Range, which the military uses for live-fire and over-sea munitions testing.