Lawmakers cut deal to allow offshore drilling

http://www.sptimes.com/2006/06/19/Worldandnation/Lawmakers_cut_deal_to.shtml ^

[submarinerswife]

Drilling within 100 miles of coast

[submarinerswife]

Lawmakers cut deal to allow offshore drilling The deal is not as generous for Florida as the one rejected by Florida House members late last year, which would have kept drilling at least 125 miles off the state’s shores. By WES ALLISON, Times Staff Writer Published June 19, 2006

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WASHINGTON - A small group of key lawmakers have reached a deal to allow oil and gas drilling 100 miles from the nation’s shore, or closer if states choose to allow it, marking a major change in U.S. policy and setting up what is likely to be a bruising fight among coastal-state lawmakers in Congress.

U.S. Rep. Adam Putnam, R-Bartow, reached the agreement over the weekend with House Resources Chairman Richard Pombo, R-Calif., and a small group of members from Louisiana, Hawaii and Pennsylvania.

The House Resources Committee is scheduled to consider it Wednesday. The deal is not as generous for Florida as the one rejected by Florida House members late last year, which would have kept drilling at least 125 miles off the state’s shores.

But political pressure to open more of the nation’s outercontinental shelf to drilling has grown with rising energy prices, and Florida Republicans say their ability to thwart attempts to drill in the eastern Gulf of Mexico, as they’ve done for the past quarter century, has been significantly weakened.

As hashed out over the weekend, Resources Committee officials said, the deal would ban oil and natural gas exploration within 50 miles of the U.S. coast, unless states petition the Interior Department to allow it.

Drilling would be allowed 50 to 100 miles from shore, unless state legislatures affirmatively act to block it every five years. States would have one year to act to block natural gas leasing and three years to block oil leasing.

Everything past 100 miles offshore would be open to drilling.

If it passes the committee, the full House could consider it as soon as next week, when House leaders have scheduled Energy Week. House Speaker Dennis Hastert has put Putnam, the highest ranking Flroida Republican, in charge of overseeing energy legislation.

The deal is likely to find strong opposition from environmentalists as well as Democrats and some Republicans from Florida, California, North Carolina and other coastal states. They say Republican negotiators are too willing to give up too much.

"This undercuts 25 years of protections for Florida’s coast in one weekend of back-room negotiating," said Athan Manuel, director of lands protection for the Sierra Club. "This is really a significant step backwards for Florida and the rest of the country."

At a Resources Committee hearing last week, the secretary of the Florida Department of Environmental Protection said Gov. Jeb Bush would accept a 100-mile buffer as well as provisions to allow the state Legislature to decide to allow drilling closer to shore.

[dfwgator]

"I see the rep done changed his position on offshore drillin'"

[livius]

That's ok. I live in Florida, and other folks from the southern part of the Americas are drilling 100 miles (or perhaps even less) off our coast. And we have better, safer technology, so I think we should go for it.

[The South Texan]

I guess this is a good start. But it will probably die in the senate where most good sense legislation does in the House of Political Pandering. And the Northeastern RINOs will lead the charge.

[rhombus]

Won't the Senate just kill the whole thing?

[stuartcr]

$$$ talks...

[Extremely Extreme Extremist]

Coastal Republicans are being pressured by the NIMBYs and envirowackos in their districts. These people are not going to support them anyway, so why even pander to them? Fricking drill off the coasts already. Now before China does.

[rhombus]

And the Northeastern RINOs will lead the charge.

They are going to get mighty cold waiting for global warming to heat things up.

[RightCanuck]

Yahoo, this is excellent news. There's oil there, let's go get it. And FLA needs a refinery too. build it!

[pabianice]

Now if Ted Kennedy will allow a wind turbine farm within 100 miles of his toffey-nosed Hyannisport ocean view...

[stuartcr]

They could put it outside Perry...close to major highways and rail....I doubt anyone would mind.

[stylin19a]

and sitting in the background...lickin it'scfhops, waiting to take it all is the LOST Treaty....

LOST establishes a new international legal regime, including an International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea, to govern activities on, over and under the world's oceans.

The treaty explicitly governs seven-tenths of the world's surface and permits international rules and regulations concerning economic and industrial activities on the land area of the world in order to combat global warming and other perceived pollution dangers.

[ScottfromNJ]

Would be good if they could drill closer, given the amount of reserves within 100 miles of our coastline, but from what I understand there's still a significant amount of oil 100 miles out. Hopefully this would be a compromise that both sides could agree on; at least it would be a start towards reducing our foreign dependency.

[RetiredArmy]

Breaking News:Small group of law makers approve drilling in Marianas Trench. Film at 11.

[UB355]

They don't do it then they can send back every FEMA $ with interest