D.T. Minich to testify before committee on Gulf drilling

Tampa Bay Business Journal - by Larry Halstead Staff Writer

Pressure at the pumps thrust offshore oil drilling and the tourism industry into the spotlight last summer. Now, D.T. Minich, executive director of Visit St. Petersburg/Clearwater, is scheduled to testify Wednesday in Washington before the House Committee on Natural Resources to discuss the issue.

Minich will speak on behalf of the local tourism industry, testifying that drilling along the Gulf Coast would unnecessarily jeopardize Pinellas County’s beaches and potentially cripple the area’s No. 1 economic driver: tourism. He has been allotted five minutes to make his presentation and then he will be subject to questions from the panel.

The oversight hearing, entitled “Offshore Drilling: Environmental and Commercial Perspectives,” is set for Feb. 11, at 10 a.m. in the Longworth House Office Building.

The hearing is the first in a series that the House Committee will be holding on the issue of offshore drilling. Future hearings, scheduled for Feb. 24 and Feb. 25, are titled “State Perspectives” and “Industrial Perspectives” respectively.

Tied to economic health

The issue carries particular weight in the St. Pete/Clearwater area, which draws nearly 14 million visitors to its 35 miles of white-sand beaches each year.

Pinellas County tourism industry marketers have remained adamant in their opposition to increased drilling off Florida’s Gulf coast, since even under normal operations, Gulf-based oil platforms can bring debris and tar to the shores, a release said.

Last September the Pinellas County Tourist Development Council sent a letter to Sens. Bill Nelson and Mel Martinez opposing offshore drilling close to the Florida coast.

But tourism officials statewide are loosening their opposition to offshore drilling. The Florida Association of Convention and Visitors Bureaus issued a statement that endorses limited expanded production of oil from existing leases at least 30 miles from the shorelines.

“This is a major move for the tourism industry,” said David Mica, executive director of the Florida Petroleum Council, based in Tallahassee. According to the latest polls, 60 percent of Floridians approve of increased drilling even if it’s closer to shore.

Florida could be a big beneficiary of relaxed restrictions on drilling if the petroleum industry is allowed to tap into the 3 trillion gallons of natural gas reserves that rest just 25 miles off Florida’s coast near Pensacola, Mica said.

“That’s enough gas to power the city of Tallahassee for 140 years,” he said.

Murky waters

With a new administration in Washington, there is plenty of uncertainty about which direction the government will take. Shortly before leaving office, President Bush rescinded executive orders that banned expanded drilling in the Outer Continental Shelf, including the Gulf of Mexico. Bush’s executive order also made available oil and gas leases within two to six years along the country’s coastlines.

Whether the government follows that order will be up to the Obama administration.

At the same time, Cuba is moving forward with gas and oil exploration within its waters, as close as 45 miles from the Florida Keys. Cuba already has arrangements with companies from Spain and India. The United States is precluded from participating because of a 48-year trade embargo with Cuba. Although the United States has enforced the embargo with its own companies, other countries have ignored it and maintain commerce with Cuba.

The U.S. Geological Survey has estimated that 5 billion barrels of oil lay in Cuba’s waters. Eleven million people live in Cuba.

With Cuba’s proximity to Florida, the state could be at risk with Cuban exploration, Florida tourism officials said in published reports.

But not just tourism officials oppose the drilling.

Environment Florida, an advocacy organization for protection of Florida’s environment, is against expanding drilling anywhere offshore. Drilling for oil off our coasts and in our last protected places is a destructive policy that will put our beaches and wild places at risk while doing nothing to reduce our dependence on foreign oil or the costs to consumers at the pump, the organization’s Web site said.