S. Fla. Sun-Sentinel: Oil Drilling a Lose-Lose Situation for Florida
Editorial Board
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
Jun 12, 2009
Give the proponents of offshore drilling credit. They are as equally persistent as their policy goals are potentially detrimental to the Sunshine State. Plus, Florida would not benefit from an amendment to a major Senate energy bill, the latest twist in misguided efforts to allow drilling as close as 10 miles from shore.
What's wrong with this latest bid? For starters, Florida wouldn't get any money out of the deal. The amendment bars states from receiving any revenue from the oil drilled off their shores. If nothing else, that part of the bill should serve as the proverbial slap in the face to those Republicans in the Florida Legislature who voiced support for offshore drilling in hopes of using newly gained oil revenue to patch a portion of the state's budget woes.
Florida has already endured previous congressional action allowing drilling rigs to inch closer to its shores. In 2006, Congress passed a bill that banned new drilling leases within 125 miles of Florida's western coast, although it did allow production in one part of the Gulf of Mexico south of Pensacola. The legislation was viewed as a compromise, but it still increased environmental risks without doing much to help the United States achieve energy independence, not to mention doing nothing to combat global warming. Those objectives need a major national investment in clean, renewable technologies.
The drill-baby-drill crowd still wants to drill in the Gulf. Their latest effort, however, not only raises the stakes for a state that relies on a coastal environment for its basic economic health, but it also robs Florida of any chance for remuneration, the primary selling point that gained traction in reducing resistance from the state's political leadership and its long-standing opposition to offshore drilling.
Unfortunately, the amendment easily made it through the Senate's Energy and Natural Resources Committee, appropriately named as members from oil-producing states hold considerable sway over any bills that come before the panel. The good news is that the bill faces an uphill fight in the full Senate and is unlikely to pass muster in the House of Representatives. The sooner this idea is scuttled, the better.