TALLAHASSEE --
Federal officials arriving in Panama City today for a public hearing on
their plans for new offshore oil and gas drilling off Florida’s coast, will get
the cold shoulder from Florida’s environmental community. Earlier this year and again today, the
Minerals Management Service (MMS) chose to hold its public hearings in locations
far from the area that would be most impacted by the proposed drilling plan –
Pensacola. When MMS ignored complaints
registered by citizens who attended the Tallahassee
hearing in April, by holding today’s hearing in Panama City, citizens decided to largely boycott
the hearing.
Environment
Florida, Clean Water Network of Florida, Gulf
Coast Environmental Defense and the Natural Resources Defense Council are
calling on Governor-elect Charlie Crist and the Florida
Congressional delegation to join them in their opposition to new federal plans
to open 2 million acres in the eastern Gulf of Mexico
to oil and gas drilling. Crist released a statement earlier this year
opposing the new MMS drilling plan.
“Offshore drilling is dirty, dangerous and it doesn’t
deliver. The area off the Florida coast
the Interior Department is proposing to open up to drilling contains just a few
months supply of oil and gas, and it would take up to seven years to bring it
to market. The fastest, cheapest,
cleanest way to swiftly reduce high energy prices and meet our growing energy
needs is to adopt and implement comprehensive energy efficiency and renewable
energy policies,” said Holly Binns, Field Director with Environment Florida .
Florida environmental
groups are urging the Florida Congressional
delegation to renew and strengthen their opposition to opening new areas of the
Eastern Gulf for drilling and to work together
to overcome pressures in the closing hours of this Congress to open new areas
of the Gulf to drilling. Incoming
Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi strongly opposes lifting current drilling
bans and is a likely friend to anti-drilling efforts in Congress. She also has
expressed concern about a state revenue sharing bill that would open new areas
of the Eastern Gulf to drilling.
Not only is an anti-drilling Speaker of the House taking
over the House of Representatives, but the most aggressive pro-drilling voice
in Congress is on his way out – Representative Richard Pombo, R-California lost
his house seat in the election. His days
as the powerful chairman of the House Committee on Resources are numbered. However, a stubborn standoff that has
festered for months between the House and Senate over developing more of the
oil and gas resources in the Outer Continental Shelf is not over yet. The dispute is expected to be an issue in the
final days of the Republican-run Congress this week when lawmakers meet in a
lame-duck session.
“Industry is up to their normal slick-tricks in Congress, as
their buddies’ days in office slip away.
It is critical for Florida’s
Congressional delegation to stick up for their state and just say no to special
interests and new drilling off the Florida
coastline,” said Linda Young, director of the Clean Water Network of Florida.
“Having one hearing, in the middle of the workday, hours
away from Pensacola which would be most affected
by the new 5-year drilling plan, may be convenient for oil and gas lobbyists,
but certainly not for average Floridians concerned about the future of our
coastal economy,” noted Enid Sisskin, President of Gulf Coast Environmental
Defense in Pensacola.
“Now
is the time for Florida’s Congressional
delegation to pull together and oppose opening any new areas to leasing or
drilling,” said Susan Glickman, NRDC’s Florida
representative. “With a new governor opposed to coastal drilling, and
fresh leadership in Congress focused on developing clean renewable energy, we
face a great opportunity to secure real protection for our coastline and
offshore waters while ending our oil addiction.”
The
plan proposed by the White House and Interior Department would open up 2
million acres off of Florida’s coast, in the area commonly referred to as Lease
Sale 181, to new offshore oil and gas drilling.
The proposal also redraws seaward boundaries, effectively giving control
of a large swath of the Eastern Gulf of Mexico to the pro-drilling state of Louisiana.
