Look at #34
Bush’s drilling deal shields Glades, gulf
WASHINGTON — Defusing two longstanding environmental disputes, President Bush and Gov. Jeb Bush announced deals Wednesday that could prevent drilling for natural gas off Florida’s gulf coast and block the expansion of oil wells in a federal preserve beside the Everglades.
The federal government will pay Chevron and two other companies $115-million for oil and gas leases in an area of the Gulf of Mexico known as Destin Dome, about 25 miles off the beaches of Pensacola.
Separately, the government plans to pay $120-million in cash or credits to the Collier family, one of South Florida’s largest land developers, to stop drilling for oil in the Big Cypress National Preserve and other areas of South Florida.
The deals won’t end the threat of drilling near Florida’s coast, nor will they stop production in Big Cypress, where pumping could continue for 10 years.
President Bush said the agreements show the federal government is “a strong partner” in protecting the environment. And Gov. Bush, boasting that Florida has some of the world’s best beaches, said: “It just did not seem right that 25 miles off the coast there might be drilling. Today, that possibility doesn’t exist.”
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ChevronTexaco spokesman Fred Gorell said his company was “very disappointed,” and Conoco spokesman Carlton Adams said, “’When you spend the number of years that we have, and the effort that went into this, and you know there are considerable natural gas reserves there, then there’s a sense of, ‘Gee, I wish we could have.’ “
http://www.sptimes.com/2002/05/30/State/Bush_s_drilling_deal_.shtml
Deals to Block Drilling in Everglades, Gulf
Bush Promises $235 Million to Buy Out Mineral Rights in Fla. Areas
President Bush announced two major deals yesterday to protect Florida’s natural treasures from oil and gas drilling, pledging $235 million to buy out mineral rights in the cypress swamps of the Everglades and off the white-sand beaches of the Gulf of Mexico....
The deals to protect some of the last refuges of the endangered Florida panther and Florida’s Gulf Coast could also provide a political boost to his brother, Gov. Jeb Bush (R), who is up for reelection this fall. They may also burnish the president’s environmental credentials in the state that decided the 2000 election.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A30379-2002May29?language=printer