St. Petersburg Times: Don't let this come to Florida's shores

[seafan]

Don't let this come to Florida's shores





September 6, 2009

In a campaign fueled by deep pockets and simplistic rhetoric, a shadowy business group tied to Texas oilmen is peddling its push to drill off Florida's beaches as a call for patriotism, energy independence and fiscal prudence. Even more depressing, many politicians in Tallahassee are falling for it. ..... The oilmen are buying up some of the most prominent media consultants and lobbyists in Tallahassee. They are promising legislators that big money from oil drilling fees can help solve the state's revenue shortfalls — and help lawmakers avoid those tough decisions like cutting more services or raising taxes. Now Sen. Mike Haridopolos, R-Melbourne, and Rep. Dean Cannon, R-Orlando, who are in line to lead their respective chambers starting in 2010, are planning to sponsor the drilling legislation. And just last week U.S. Senate candidate and Gov. Charlie Crist — a former foe of drilling — suggested the Legislature might consider the idea as early as an October special session. This is an oil rush that solves nothing and threatens Florida's beauty and economy.

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Long ago, leaders from both political parties embraced this calculus: The risk of potential damage to the state's beaches and the tourism industry far exceeds any potential gains from oil collection. That hasn't changed, regardless of what the drilling advocates claim about improved technology that may lessen the risk of an oil spill or the potential income the state might receive years from now. Even last week's announcement by energy giant BP that it may have uncovered one of the largest oil deposits in the United States in the western Gulf of Mexico has many asterisks. The Tiber Prospect will take years to tap, if it can even be done 7 miles below the surface. Even then, experts said, its estimated yield of between 4 billion and 6 billion barrels of crude oil would be enough to sustain the United States for only one year.

The most optimistic estimates reveal there is not enough oil in Florida's state waters to lower gas prices or substantially change the country's reliance on foreign oil — contrary to the vision of cheaper gas and energy independence painted by the drilling advocates. What's more, as Graham notes, exhausting the country's fuel reserves, when such resources are available elsewhere and before alternative energy options have been fully developed, would actually increase the threat to national security.

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The push to expand drilling off Florida's coasts boils down to money, not energy policy. First and foremost are the would-be investors, who, cloaked in anonymity, are spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on a multifaceted public relations campaign. Among their nuanced and calculated pitches: Have the Legislature dedicate a portion of the money the state collects from drilling to finance alternative energy development.

Then there are Tallahassee's lobbyists and consultants — many of whom earned taxpayers' salaries in the past by working for previous administrations that fought offshore drilling. They are now willing to risk the state's coastline and economy for a good-paying client, in spite of the good public policy they used to support. And there are Republican legislative leaders like Haridopolos and Cannon who — unwilling to face the harsh fiscal realities of their own tax-cutting decisions in recent years — are intoxicated by the idea that proceeds from oil and gas, like this year's federal stimulus funds, will dig them out of the hole they helped to create. Finally there is Crist, who already has demonstrated he will sacrifice Florida for his political ambitions.

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Powerful group pushing for legislative approval of oil drilling off Florida





This bloody battle for Florida's survival will never be over, as long as Big Money Predators are on the attack. And now, with a disinterested governor who has shown us that he is only mindful of his own ambition, and by his hand, giving away the clout of our US Senate seat to an empty crony, we watch in despair as our way of life continues to decay.

Another 4 stinking years frittered away by Republicans, while Florida declines.


I'm not sure we will ever see true leadership return for the people of Florida.

[seafan]

1. 'These mysterious oilmen - are they Floridians? Americans? Foreign governments?'

The mystery push for offshore oil

By DAVID GUEST Special To The Tampa Tribune
September 6, 2009

News that "a secretive group of powerful legislators, business groups and Texas oil companies has been laying the groundwork" to open Florida's shores to oil and gas drilling should make all of us sit up and pay attention.
"Florida Energy Associates," the media reports, is a shadowy group that identifies itself only by saying it is financed by "a group of independent oil producers."
These mysterious oilmen - are they Floridians? Americans? Foreign governments? - apparently have fat profits to spend. They've hired lobbyists, public relations experts, a financial consultant and a pollster to get Florida to sell drilling leases in state waters within 10 miles off Florida's Gulf Coast.

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Lobbyists and fixers hired by the unidentified oil men have dropped a quarter-million dollars of influence around Tallahassee, The Miami Herald reports, including "$55,000 to political parties, $35,000 to Republicans and $20,000 to Democrats since May."
A recent news story reports that the group has sponsored legislative leadership dinners and has recruited two of the most powerful state lawmakers to sponsor the oil-drilling bill in 2010: Sen. Mike Haridopolos, a Melbourne Republican in line to be Senate president in 2010, and Rep. Dean Cannon, a Winter Park Republican set to become House speaker in 2010.

The slime just keeps getting thicker. They've hired professional spinners - former aides to Governors Jeb Bush and Lawton Chiles (two state leaders who sensibly opposed oil derricks off one of the world's best tourist destinations) - to convince us that dirty and dangerous offshore oil drilling is all of a sudden clean and desirable.

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Please remember your tax dollars - $127 million worth! - have already been paid to oil companies since 2002, to buy up their offshore leases, ostensibly to keep our beaches free from the nasty tar balls that washed up on Texas beaches all summer.
Last spring, the stealth oil men peddled a surprise bill in the Florida Legislature to allow offshore drilling. Their proposal would have allowed the oil companies to bypass the state's normal competitive bidding process. The state, the bill directed, would have to award a bid in just 90 days. The state doesn't do that for office supply purchases, but should do that for something as major as allowing offshore oil rigs in public waters? This ridiculous bill passed the Florida House of Representatives, but thankfully not the Senate. But it may come up now in an October special session.

The Florida Senate president and the state House speaker are openly propping offshore oil drilling as if it were the great hope for getting Florida out of recession. The state's big developer groups - responsible for overbuilding, flipping real estate and crashing the go-go false economy - are supporting the oil men, too.

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The media did a good job shining a light on the Big Oil money men skulking around our state. Now, we the people need to run them off.

Amen.