Offshore Drilling: A Bad Idea Then, A Bad Idea Now
Florida's
environment, economy and identity are defined by our shores. That’s why for
decades Floridians have been united in their opposition to offshore drilling.
The risks, we said, were too high; the rewards far too small.
But some of Florida's elected officials are ready to
reverse course and open the door to offshore drilling.
We disagree. Allowing drilling off our shores was wrong for Florida years ago and it’s wrong for Florida today. Our environment--and our coastal economy--would suffer
serious, perhaps catastrophic and long-lasting harm. It’s simply not worth it.
As this debate rages in the weeks and months to come, now more than ever, we
need to let our leaders know where we stand.
Will Florida
Stand United Against Drilling?
Allies of the oil industry in the Florida Legislature and Congress are aggressively
pushing legislation that threatens our world famous coast. Incredibly, Governor Charlie
Crist and some members of our congressional delegation have supported proposals
that would promote drilling closer to Florida's
beaches and undermine Florida's
existing protections, including a repeal of the ban on drilling just three miles offshore, which has been in place since the 1980s. Florida's elected leaders have stood
together against offshore drilling in the past. We need them to stand united
again in defense of our coast now.
Oil Rigs: A Risk Florida’s Shores Can’t Afford
At each stage of testing, exploration, and production, the oil and gas business
produces contaminated water, uses toxic drilling muds, and periodically spills
oil and toxic liquids into the ocean. Pollutants like mercury and
persistent hydrocarbons contaminate fish and sea life near platforms and
massive spills kill seabirds, sea turtles, fish and marine mammals.
Hurricanes Katrina and Rita destroyed over 100 drilling rigs
and platforms and over 450 pipelines. The Minerals Management Service estimated
almost one million gallons spilled during the hurricane from offshore
facilities; the Coast Guard documented an estimated nine million gallons from
onshore and offshore oil facilities were spilled.
This August, a two-year old rig touted by the oil lobby as "the future of oil and gas exploration" ruptured and caused a massive nine million gallon leak off Australia's pristine Kimberly coastline. The West Atlas rig spewed oil into one of the ocean's busiest migratory routes for 73 days this Fall.
A catastrophic spill like what happened near Australia—one that could close down coastal tourism for
weeks or months, is a real possibility.
We Have Cleaner, Safer Choices
Oil drilling proponents say we have no choice, given rising oil and gas prices.
They’re wrong.
If our cars and trucks got an average of a couple more miles per gallon,
we'd save more oil than exists off the entire coast of Florida. Yet federal gas mileage standards leave much room for improvement. Instead of allowing oil companies to
drill off our coast, our governor and congressional delegation should be
leading the fight in Washington and in Tallahassee for better
gas mileage and clean energy.
Tell Our Leaders: Stop The Rush To Drill
The oil lobby would like us to believe that we can drill our way out of our
nation's energy problems. We're not buying it. Opening our shores to drilling
would only put our beaches and coastal waters at great risk for a small,
short-term supply of oil and gas. We can do better.
State and federal leaders know this. But they're facing enormous
pressure to take action against rising energy prices. Caving in to the oil lobby
would give them a chance to appear strong and decisive. Unfortunately for us,
though, we'd still face a long-term energy crisis while our environment and
economy would face new risks due to the pollution and potential for
catastrophic spills off our coast.
We need to tell our leaders in Congress to stop the rush to drill—and start
pushing sensible choices like using less oil by increasing fuel
economy, increasing funding for public transportation and planning for better
transportation systems.
