Florida in tough fight to block drilling

Posted on Thu, May. 18, 2006

CONGRESS
Florida in tough fight to block drilling
Florida lawmakers plotted strategy to overcome efforts to open the outer
continental shelf to drilling.
BY LESLEY CLARK
lclark@MiamiHerald.com

WASHINGTON - Florida's lawmakers are predicting a ''tough, uphill''
battle in Congress to block efforts to open the U.S. coast to natural
gas exploration -- worried that congressional approval, though largely
symbolic, would set a dangerous precedent.

A provision that would strip natural gas from the congressional
moratorium that bars energy exploration from the nation's outer
continental shelf could come to a vote on the House floor as early as
today. Florida House members, as well as Gov. Jeb Bush, warned Wednesday
that it could lead to rigs just nine miles from shore in the Gulf of Mexico.

As members of the Florida congressional delegation huddled to plot
strategy, even Rep. Adam Putnam, a Bartow Republican who chairs the
powerful Republican Policy Committee, suggested it won't be easy.

''We've got vote hurdles,'' Putnam said, adding he thought it ''very
possible'' that the effort to lift the ban would succeed.

Lifting the congressional moratorium would be mostly symbolic because a
presidential moratorium that doesn't expire until 2012 still prevents
coastal drilling. But members of the delegation said it would deliver a
troublesome message, putting Congress on the record in support of
deep-water drilling off the U.S. coastline.

Previous attempts in the House to lift the ban on drilling off the
Atlantic and Pacific coasts have failed, but Putnam noted that Rep. John
Peterson, the Pennsylvania Republican who has long advocated lifting the
congressional ban on drilling for natural gas, has picked up support for
his position as the price of gasoline has spiked.

''He's taking advantage of the momentum that he has, thanks to gas
prices and political frustration,'' Putnam said, referring to Peterson,
who has also invoked Cuba's energy exploration off its coast as added
incentive for dropping rigs in Florida waters.

Peterson's move drew fire Wednesday from the governors of six coastal
states, including Florida's Bush, who said in a letter to House Speaker
Dennis Hastert that he strongly opposed the measure and was urging the
Florida delegation to take ''whatever means necessary'' to block the
amendment.

''This policy shift threatens our state's sensitive marine resources,
which are the foundation of our economy and quality of life,'' Bush wrote.

''The degree of callousness displayed by the proponents for the
interests of the people of Florida is astonishing,'' said Rep. Robert
Wexler, a Democrat from Boca Raton.

For his part, Peterson suggested that Floridians are energy users as well.

''When you run the numbers, you don't find many states in this country
that would stand to benefit more from reasonable natural gas prices than
Florida,'' he said.

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