Let’s See Who Votes for Oil and Who Votes for Florida
By Dave Rauschkolb
Florida is on the brink of decisions that could forever endanger our clean waters, our clean beaches and our valuable tourism-based economy. Why?
It is clear some members of the state Senate and House of Representatives are determined to allow offshore drilling regardless of the study by The Century Commission debunking the claims of vast oil and gas reserves off Florida.
Regardless of the growing list of military officials saying it would absolutely interfere with operations.
Regardless of more than 50 counties, cities, chambers of commerce, and other local agencies that have passed resolutions against oil drilling in Florida’s waters.
Regardless of the thousands of Floridians who joined hands in the Hands Across The Sand protest Feb. 13 against oil drilling on more than 80 beaches.
Near-Shore, Offshore Plans Put Florida in Peril
Filed in the Senate last week was Senate Bill 2622, a companion bill to the House Bill 1219, that would allow for drilling from three to10 miles offshore. And Florida’s House General Government Policy Council has approved what’s known as a “memorial,” or a recommendation, urging Congress to lift the ban on drilling in federal waters from 10 to 125 miles offshore.
Both the near-shore and offshore proposals would put Florida’s pristine coastline and waters in peril.
The General Policy Council’s recently passed House Memorial Bill 0563 , approved 12 to 4 along party lines, received scant notice. Yet its “recommendation” to Congress is clear: You can believe those “drill baby drill” folks who contend that the majority of Floridians support oil drilling. Such a recommendation defies reason.
Have you seen the new, smooth TV advertising campaign waged by energy companies? You would think the energy industry could be the savior of the American Dream and provide endless jobs. Those new, safer, “greener” drilling techniques – the oil and gas industry is doing nothing more than employing a capable bunch of marketing minds to recreate this new “green” image. Not unlike “clean coal,” perhaps the ultimate oxymoron. What will be next, green oil?
A Dirty Business
The oil industry is a dirty business, period. All you need to do is cruise the coastline from Gulf Shores, Ala., to the border of Mexico to see how the oil and gas industry conducts its business in our western Gulf of Mexico.
And the mess is not only confined to water. It’s no secret there are parts of Texas and Louisiana that are industrial wastelands. There are nearly 4,000 oil rigs off Louisiana, Texas, Mississippi and Alabama; of those, 1,000 are rusting, useless hulks. Only a fraction of the 100,000 oil and gas leases held are in use, yet the industry wants more. Listen up, oil and gas industry: Clean up the existing cesspool you’ve created west of Florida’s border, and then you might be qualified to tout your “new, cleaner, greener” ways.
Spills? Oh, they always say spills are rare. Tell that to Grandpa. All one needs to do is a little research to find the level of oil that goes into our Gulf regularly, and it is a fact that unintended spills occur often. Just last October two oil tankers collided off Galveston, Texas, spilling 18,000 gallons of oil into the waters. In January, in a Port Arthur, Texas, spill nearly half a million gallons of crude oil went into the water.
And let’s not forget hurricanes, particularly Katrina. The U.S Minerals Management Service published its offshore damage assessment: In Katrina 113 platforms were destroyed. Of the 457 pipelines damaged, 101 were major lines 10 inches or larger in diameter. At least 741,000 gallons were spilled from 124 reported sources (the Coast Guard deems anything more than 100,000 gallons a major spill).
The truth is that accidents will occur, spills will occur, and if they happen in Florida, our state would never be the same.
Then there’s The Century Commission Drilling Report from the Collins Center for Public Policy, which concluded that all the oil in Florida’s waters would power America for only one week.
Why Aren’t Our Leaders Listening?
After all the evidence against oil drilling, why aren’t our leaders listening? They should. Oil is on the lips of Floridians, and we don’t like the taste of it. We will never let Florida forget who sold out.
It all comes down to this: a vote for oil or a vote for Florida,
If our leaders choose oil, we may be the last generation of Floridians who remember our treasured coastline with a horizon free of oil rigs, who remember pristine white beaches free of oil from busted pipelines and rigs.
All it would take is one major spill. Those who would vote for oil could never wash the responsibility from their hands.
For Florida’s sake, let’s hope our leaders choose Florida.
Dave Rauschkolb, the founder of Hands Across The Sand, lives in Seaside, Florida.
