Orlando Sentinel: Fight the Rising Tide
Editorial Board
Orlando Sentinel
Jun 13, 2009
The vote by a Senate committee Tuesday to expand drilling to within just 45 miles of Florida's Gulf coast and 10 miles of the Panhandle – irresponsible though it is – should surprise no one.
If, on the other hand, the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee had approved another proposal before it to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to drilling – that would have been a shocker. Opposition to drilling ANWR's pristine wilderness, after all, has been resolute. That's why a tired old proposal to despoil it lost, again, on Tuesday.
But opposition to drilling off Florida's beaches among both Democrats and Republicans unfortunately has been crumbling faster than a sandcastle at high tide — emboldening those who covet suspected oil and natural gas reserves in the Eastern Gulf to press their case. And on Tuesday, allowing them to hit pay dirt.
Democrats who are supposed to carry President Barack Obama's water on energy — his program to lessen the nation's dependence on fossil fuels while increasing its development of alternative energy sources — voted Tuesday as if they had shares in Exxon. Four of them opposed the proposal to expand drilling in the Gulf. But twice as many embraced it.
That's no doubt in part because Mr. Obama, too, has equivocated. The measure to expand drilling is an amendment to a broader and more sensible energy bill pushed by the president, requiring that 15 percent of the country's electricity comes from solar, wind and other renewable sources by 2021.
Yet as a candidate trolling for votes last year, Mr. Obama said he was open to drilling in Florida's offshore waters so long as it was part of a progressive energy plan. But why more drilling? Just three years ago Congress opened another 8.3 million acres in the east-central Gulf to drilling in a deal, which we supported, that also kept rigs 125 miles from Florida's shores until 2022. In the House, Speaker Nancy Pelosi has voiced her opposition to more drilling. But congressional aides fear her opposition is soft, and could collapse as gasoline prices soar. Oil's now topping $70 a barrel, up from $32 in December.
Rising or volatile oil prices in the past year, and polls showing more Floridians entertaining the idea of more drilling, also caused the state's Republican congressional delegation to abandon its opposition to coastal drilling.
As did Republican Gov. Charlie Crist.
And as did the Republican-led Legislature back in Tallahassee. This year, House Speaker-designate Dean Cannon even proposed letting oil companies set up rigs three-to-10 miles off shore, justifying it with these bromides:
•More drilling will make the U.S. energy independent, which it won't (so says the U.S. Department of Energy).
•More drilling will respect the environment, which it doesn't (Hurricanes Katrina and Rita cause 124 oil spills, and expanded drilling will require more tankers, more land-based storage facilities and more pipelines).
•More drilling will raise revenue for cash poor Florida. Now there's the rub.
Mr. Cannon's proposal potentially could land the state $1.6 billion in royalties and taxes if companies found oil.
The amendment to the energy bill in the U.S. Senate would funnel the government's share of potentially even greater royalties to Washington. Lots of lawmakers, however, say states should share in them. If they can alter the bill to reflect that before all members of Congress vote on it, the once controversial bill — ever a threat to Florida's environment and economy — could win in a walk.
Its remaining opponents, led by Sen. Bill Nelson, mustn't let that happen.