Florida drilling bill is rigged: Republicans pushing to allow drilling less than 10 miles offshore

[seafan]

And this piece of $&*# will likely be added to a weakened renewable energy bill. How's that for insanity? This right wing extremist crowd is lacing the beaches with their last remaining land mines, ready to destroy what's left of Florida, because they have nothing left to lose.

Will Governor Crist see fit to veto this vipers' nest? Charlie, if you plan on running for Senate, you'd better get this one right.



Drilling bill is rigged

By Randy Schultz
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer

April 26, 2009

Tallahassee behaved last week the way Tallahassee can behave when a powerful special interest wants something. In other words, Tallahassee acted against the public interest.
First, no major bills are supposed to arrive unannounced during the next-to-last week of the legislative session. Among other things, there's almost no time for debate. That applies this year especially, given the budget talks.

But Monday night an e-mail went out from a Tallahassee public relations firm saying that the state "has begun a healthy new dialogue based on facts, not fear, regarding possible exploration and production of oil and natural gas in the state's Gulf of Mexico waters." Tuesday afternoon, a follow-up release advertised a "conversation about taking a bold step to empower (the state's) economy through oil and gas exploration" that could mean rigs just 1 mile from the beach.
A conference call had been set up. A poll, concluding that Floridians would be OK with drilling, was ready. An economist had been hired to say that oil and gas "exploration" could bring Florida $1.6 billion a year from lease payments and royalties and create 19,000 jobs. Nearly two dozen lobbyists were at work.

.....

Clearly, though, this "Drill, baby, drill" campaign had been orchestrated for weeks, with the idea of springing it at the last minute. Rep. Dean Cannon, R-Winter Park, is in line to be House speaker in 2011 and 2012. He replaced an innocuous one-page bill (HB 1219) that would have created a plan for offshore drilling with a 19-page bill that would wipe out the state's ban on drilling within 10 miles of the coast.

Sen. (Bill) Nelson's action protected the area between 10 miles and 125 miles from the coast. He presumed that the state would never change the rules for its territorial waters, not with Florida's tourist industry so dependent on those beautiful Gulf beaches.
Tough times, though, create possibilities for all sorts of mischief in the name of economic development. Anyway, House leaders never shared Gov. Crist's enthusiasm for renewable energy. This week, the House could stick HB 1219 onto its lame renewable energy bill and send it to the Senate, whose bill sets a goal of 20 percent clean energy by 2020. To get even that modest goal into state law, the Senate might have to take the drilling bill. The Senate sponsor said he was open to the idea.

And what a bad idea it would be. Supporters breathlessly compare the financial potential to what Louisiana and Texas receive. But those states don't rely on beaches for tourism, as Florida does. More important, companies that discovered oil wouldn't want to ship it all the way across the Gulf. That would be too expensive. They would want refineries nearby. How many tourists would come to the Florida Gulf coast if it looked like Refinery Row around Port Arthur, Texas? Drilling might give; it also might take.

In an attempt to win support from environmental groups, the bill says that $300 million from drilling could go to the state's land-preservation program. No one could guarantee that.
Florida produces more farm waste suitable for energy production than any other state. Solar and wind possibilities are obvious, and Florida Power & Light, the state's largest utility, agrees that human activity causes global warming. Yet if this bill passes and Gov. Crist signs it, Dick Cheney might as well be making energy policy for this state.

If Florida got any serious money from drilling, it wouldn't come for years. The serious damage to Florida would be immediate. Tallahassee isn't just behaving badly. Tallahassee is ready to sell out the state.

It's not "Tallahassee" that's selling out the state, it's the stinking stay-behinds loyal to Jeb Bush.

[MissPuddy]

1. The whole state consists of ignorant Republicans/Bush loyalists

We should be using wind turbines and solar in Florida, not surface water contaminating antiquated techniques! Drilling won't bring jobs to Florida...but will LOSE jobs after the drilling mud wastes, oil seepage, and spills pollute our coasts. The oil companies will get richer.:rant:

WHERE IS THE ENVIRONMENTAL STUDY??? Even the Alaskan drilling got stopped because no study was performed.