A plan to begin offshore drilling as close as three miles from the Florida coast stalled in the legislature this year, but energy interests aren't taking no for an answer. The Tampa Bay Tribune reports that oil and gas companies have ramped-up their political contributions to the Democratic and Republican parties:
Florida Energy Associates, a mostly anonymous group of oil and gas companies that want to drill off Florida's Gulf coast, has contributed $125,000 this year. The biggest chunk - $75,000 - went to the state Republican Party. The Democratic Party received the remaining $50,000.Why give the cash to the parties instead of individual candidates? One, contributions to parties is "soft money," and there not subject to campaign finance limits.
But the energy interests are also doing it because, as they candidly admit, gifts to individual legislators can make it appear like they're trying to buy influence:
Doug Daniels, chief operating officer for Florida Energy Associates, said spending on the major parties is preferable to concentrating on individual campaigns because the candidates "would have the difficulty of trying to explain why they're taking a contribution from an organization like that. ... A contribution to the process is not singling somebody out."Interestingly, the Orlando Sun Sentinel notes that offshore drilling is being pushed more as a way to boost tax revenues for the state's sagging economy than as a plan to meet energy needs. But in an editorial, the paper argues that a recent report by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association -- which stated NOAA was "very concerned" about the impact on marine life and the fishing industry -- shows the long-term risks far outweigh the benefits:
The alarm sounded by an experienced, scientific voice like NOAA also underscores the need for Florida's Legislature to cool its impulse to plunder the seas in search of a way to pay the bills. The state's economy, and its budget, is in a bad way, and the search for new revenue streams, and new job markets, is a healthy one.Florida isn't the only state that will see these debates: The Department of Interior's draft leasing plan for 2010-2015 would open up new drilling areas off the Arctic coast, the Atlantic seaboard, and the Gulf of Mexico.
But the lasting dangers of oil drilling, validated by a measured agency of NOAA's stature, are too menacing to ignore, especially for a state that prizes, and banks on, its pristine beaches and reefs. At the very least, the concerns deserve thorough study before imperiling Florida's environmental future with an impulsive quest for cash.
Folks let’s keep in mind the following
• Oil companies PAY the federal and state governments for the privilege of drilling offshore. That’s money going into the tax base that YOU don’t have to pay. The government uses those funds to build schools, roads and hospitals.
• Offshore drilling creates a huge number of high paying blue collar and white collar jobs. So YOU don’t have to pay for their unemployment benefits and they pay income taxes that eventually benefit you. Those same folks will be spending lots of money and buying lots of homes shore side.
• Economics 101 indicates that more supply = lower prices for the oil and natural gas that offshore drilling produces.
• More supply sourced domestically helps to insure that we have a more stable source of supply. This lowers the risk of being “cut off” by others. For the oil and gas market, this then psychologically serves to reduce the price of oil and gas and such will be reflected in how the commodity is priced.
• Offshore drilling is proven safe and clean. Probably much safer than the oil tankers that cruise in and out of the nations harbors daily.
So it’s no skin off your nose if the oil companies want to drill for oil. In fact, it benefits you directly and indirectly. It’s time that we get behind this for the good of the nation and the economy.
October 19, 2009 3:26 PM | Reply
"3 miles off the coast?" What does Florida tourism have to say about this?
October 19, 2009 4:28 PM | Reply
O.K. Carol, all of this money going into drilling offshore could be going into things such as renewable energy that will not harm the environment nor will they run out like oil does. Also, (and I would know since I live in Florida) we already have enough problems with the destruction of the Everglades and swamps and bogs in North Florida, would we really want to add oil spills onto our list of environmental difficulties? In 2005 those big hurricanes completely destroyed 113 platforms, and damaged 457 pipelines, 101 of which were major lines. During hurricanes Katrina and Rita, there were 125 spills releasing 685,000 gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico. Obviously drilling is not clean and a "state of the art" rig in Austraila proves it. On October 7 this year this rig started spilling oil after one small storm. It is still spilling oil into the Timor Sea to this day covering 6,500 miles of ocean (so far), 400 gallons of oil per day. Every 18 days it releases enough oil to equal the 1993 oil spill in Tampa ruining 3 miles of beach.
October 27, 2009 9:05 PM | Reply