Miami Herald: Drilling Disaster
Editorial Board
Miami Herald
Jun 15, 2009
OUR OPINION: Senate push to reduce state's oil-drilling buffer can hurt tourism
Drill, baby, drill may work as a political bumper sticker but it's not the answer to the nation's energy independence. Drilling could prove to be a Florida disaster -- if offshore oil and gas rigs are allowed to move so close to the eastern Gulf of Mexico that beachgoers in the Panhandle could see them.
All it takes is one spill from a tanker to wreck a coastline for years.
Unfortunately, a Senate panel last week approved a dramatic reduction in the state's oil-drilling buffer zone -- now at 125 miles away -- to only 10 miles off the Panhandle. In the Tampa area, drilling would be allowed 45 miles from Gulf communities instead of the current 235 miles.
Sen. Bill Nelson is right to threaten a filibuster if this dangerous scheme by Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., reaches the Senate floor. It shatters a compromise worked out in Congress just three years ago. That deal cleared the way for drilling in eight million acres of the east-central Gulf so long as those other buffers were in place -- at least until 2022.
Yes, gas prices are shooting up again -- as they do most summers when vacation travel increases. But allowing drilling so close to Florida's shores is no quick-fix solution to reducing gas prices. It would take years to find out if any of those closer sites can produce enough oil or gas to be worth the expense. Meantime, the potential for environmental damage to our beaches, which draw millions of tourists, remains real -- even with new drilling technology. Mr. Nelson also points out that opening the eastern part of the Gulf could also affect military flight training.
The nation's energy policy has to focus on ways to conserve energy while growing the economy. It needs to focus on more renewable fuels and alternative sources -- such as solar, biofuels and nuclear, with the appropriate protections -- and less on gunky tar and smelly fumes.