Miller Message

Florida missed a favorable deal on drilling

Florida missed an exceptional opportunity this month. Florida could have insured that no oil or gas exploration took place within 150 miles of most of its coast or within Eglin Air Force Base's Gulf test ranges.

But instead of choosing to protect our shores and our military from oil companies, some members of the Florida delegation chose to ensure their reelection in 2006. I am concerned their risky gamble could backfire.

On July 1, 2007, just 19 months from now, the moratorium protecting the waters off the Florida Panhandle known as Lease Area 181 expires. With the expiration of the moratorium, the Minerals Management Service within the Department of Interior will be able to sell oil and gas leases within 20 miles of Pensacola. There is no guarantee that this moratorium will be extended and with rising natural gas, heating oil and petroleum costs, it is becoming increasingly likely that this moratorium will be left to expire.

Florida's U.S. Reps. Mike Bilirakis, Cliff Stearns and I worked with the House leadership to construct a plan to give the people of the state control of the destiny of its waters rather than a federal bureaucrat or a member of Congress from Texas or Pennsylvania .

This provision would have prevented any drilling within 150 miles of the coast of Florida (well outside of the State of Florida 's position of 100 miles) and prevented any activity east of the military mission line, where Eglin Air Force Base tests and evaluates weapons systems.

The provision also contained language to trade the existing leases in the Destin Dome, some as close as 17 miles off the coast of Florida, for other leases that are at least 100 miles from the coast. The bill also would have extended the current moratoria until 2017, and given protection to the East Coast of Florida and the Straits of Florida for the first time. We could have ended the threat of drilling for 96.5 million acres in the Gulf of Mexico forever.

I've often argued that oil and gas exploration is a state's rights issue. It is abundantly clear that the State of Florida does not want drilling to negatively affect its beaches and shores. So why not give the people the ability to prevent it?

Since the removal of this provision from the House Deficit Reduction Act, the House Committee on Resources has began moving forward on legislation from Neil Abercrombie, D-Hawaii, and John Peterson, R-Pa., to allow drilling for natural gas as close as seven miles from the coast of Florida.

It also immediately repeals all existing moratoria that currently protect our coastline. This is just the first in what I predict will be a series of attempts to drill in the Eastern Gulf of Mexico .

This could have been prevented. But instead of showing the leadership to give the state the ability to protect itself from drilling in perpetuity, some Floridapoliticians caved in to the pressure of newspaper editorial review boards that had never read and probably didn't understand the protective language.

I will continue to fight any and all drilling that occurs within 100 miles of our coast or encroaches on our military mission in the Eastern Gulf .

I am, however, disappointed that some in our delegation didn't take the opportunity to end the threat to our shores once and for all.

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