Our Ocean Legacy

The U.S House of Representatives has voted to pass H.R 6111, an omnibus bill that includes legislation that will open 8.3 million acres off Florida’s coast to oil drilling.  The drilling legislation was not able to win passage on its own, and instead was rolled into a large package of popular tax, Medicare and trade related bills.

The U.S. Senate is expected to take up the bill sometime either late Friday evening or this weekend.

Statement of Environment Florida Director Mark Ferrulo:

“The U.S. House has voted to give an early Christmas present to Big Oil and Florida gets a stocking stuffed with tar balls.  The give away of eight million acres of waters directly off Florida’s coast to the oil industry is bad news for anyone who cares about the health of our marine wildlife and coastal environment. 

There are currently no drilling rigs anywhere directly off the Florida coast. If this omnibus bill becomes law, the 109th Congress will have green lighted the first production oil drilling rigs in history off Florida’s coast.  This is exactly the precedent that the pro-drilling lobby has been pursuing for decades.

Despite today’s defeat, we remain hopeful that the next Congress will move us away from our dependence on oil and toward a new energy future.  Until that happens, Florida’s coast will always be under assault.”

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