By SARA
LUBBES
Sun Tallahassee
bureau
TALLAHASSEE - Facing renewed efforts in
Congress to put oil rigs closer than ever to Florida’s Gulf Coast, a bipartisan pair of state
lawmakers wants voters to weigh in on just where the rigs should be.
Sen.
Mike Bennett, R-Bradenton, and Rep. Mary Brandenburg, D-West Palm Beach, are
pushing a bill that would allow voters to amend the state constitution to ban
oil drilling closer than 250 miles from Florida’s Gulf shores.
‘‘Let the people
decide,’’ Brandenburg said. ‘‘They’re smart folks and
they can make that decision.’’
But the proposal would largely be
symbolic, because any federal law would likely override a state-level
ban.
Still, advocates said such an amendment would make it clear to
Congress once and for all that Floridians don’t want to worry about oil spills
as they sunbathe at the beach.
After passing a compromise law last year
to allow drilling 125 miles off the Gulf Coast, U.S. senators from Idaho and North
Dakota are now pushing a bill to put the rigs as close
as 45 miles.
‘‘It is necessary for us to send a statement,’’ Bennett
said.
Last year, a resolution saying that Floridians and its lawmakers
‘‘don’t approve of oil or gas drilling in our waters’’ failed to win
support.
Bennett and Bradenburg’s bill got a cool reception Wednesday
from some members of the House Energy Committee, which would have to approve it
before it would head to the entire House for debate.
‘‘Our Constitution
has been messed with so much,’’ said Rep. Paige Kreegel, R-Punta Gorda, who sits
on the committee. ‘‘To use it to make a statement makes a mockery of
it.’’
There is also no guarantee Floridians would vote to oppose the
drilling. Bradenburg said the risk of the amendment failing ‘‘is
non-existent.’’
But a May 2006 Quinnipiac University poll shows 51
percent of residents supported Gulf drilling operations, mostly because of high
gas prices. Seven percent were undecided.
To amend the Constitution, 60
percent of voters would have to endorse the drilling ban. Anti-drilling
advocates face tough opposition from the oil industry, whose lobbyists argued
Wednesday that Florida visitors would not worry about oil
rigs as long as they can’t see them from the shore.
‘‘They’re not going
to be fearful of going to the beach,’’ said Barney Bishop, president of
Associated Industries of Florida. ‘‘People don’t care about those kind of
things.’’
Mark Ferrulo, director of
Environment Florida, said he’d support the amendment, but says it would be a
tough fight to get approved.
‘‘There’s a lot of very deep pockets that
oppose this measure,’’ he said. ‘‘We could win on the ballot but it wouldn’t be
a slam dunk by any means.’’
