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Local Opinion Split Over Offshore Drilling

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By Carl  Orth | The Suncoast News

Published: June 19, 2008

NEW PORT RICHEY Opinions vary among some West Pasco leaders on the topic of possible oil and natural gas drilling off the Florida coast.

Republican state lawmakers from West Pasco favor lifting the federal moratorium on drilling for oil or natural gas on any coasts. They would let states decide for themselves.

A Pasco Democratic Party spokeswoman thinks Republicans are proposing quick-fix, possibly risky, solutions to higher gasoline prices as an election year ploy.

State Sen. Mike Fasano, R-New Port Richey, said he agrees with Gov. Charlie Crist that the states should be able to decide whether to allow oil and gas drilling off their coasts.

Crist stunned some people this week when he said we would be willing to "look" at the possibility of exploring for oil and natural gas off the Florida coast. Until now Crist had agreed with state political leaders who have long maintained offshore oil drilling would pose an unacceptable risk to Florida's beaches and its tourist industry.

Fasano would require companies to drill no closer than 50 miles from Florida coasts, Greg Giordano, Fasano's chief legislative assistant, said. The drilling rigs would not be visible from the coastline at that distance, Fasano thinks.

Environmental safeguards are sufficient to protect Florida beaches, Fasano believes. He cites how oil rigs off the Louisiana coast survived Hurricane Katrina without suffering major damage or experiencing an oil spill.

Florida somehow should reap economic benefits directly from any oil or gas discovered off its coasts, Fasano insists.

Fasano would lobby federal lawmakers to regulate speculators who buy oil future contracts.
"I believe the federal government should require these speculators to put up a lot more of their own money if they are going to speculate," Fasano was quoted as saying in today's edition of The Tampa Tribune. "Right now, they're putting up virtually nothing, and ultimately it's the consumer who pays the bill at the pump."

Often such speculators only have to put up perhaps as little as 10 percent of the purchase price of their bid, Fasano noted.

Fasano wants to open the oil futures market more to individual investors, not just institutional investors.

State Rep. John Legg, R-Port Richey, echoed many of the same sentiments.

"I fully support the states having the right to decide" on drilling off their coasts.

"It's about our national security," Legg said today. "Call the bluff of the Middle East. They're holding us economic hostage."

Legg said he has read figures putting U.S. oil reserves at some 150 billion barrels of oil, with some 80 billion off the Florida coast alone.

Many petroleum industry observers urge caution about estimates of oil and natural gas reserves off the coast of Florida and elsewhere in the eastern Gulf of Mexico. The decades-old federal ban on drilling in the region keeps geologists from using modern seismic technology to more accurately assess the extent of its oil and natural gas deposits.

Legg said he doesn't want to "drill for the sake of drilling." Legg commented. While exploring the gulf is important, "We can't flip a switch and start pumping" oil, he said.

Legg blames both oil speculation on commodity markets and the "oil cartel" of petroleum-producing nations for the big increase in the price of gasoline.

Although environmental safeguards are necessary, he rates oil dependency as an even greater risk. So Legg supports efforts by Crist to shift Florida toward less reliance on oil. Florida is "blessed" with solar, wind and other alternative fuel options. "They don't develop overnight," Legg cautioned.

Crist and other Republicans have been flip-flopping on the oil drilling issue, Alison B. Morano, chairwoman of the Pasco County Democratic Executive Committee, commented.

"They use it as a campaign tactic," Morano complained about Republicans. "Now it's the cool thing for the Republicans to do."

"That's how the Republicans operate – kick the tires and don't look under the hood," Morano said.

Drilling in the eastern gulf would be a quick-fix response to record prices for gasoline, Morano said. There would be no return from any type of drilling for at least 10 years, she said.

Morano also cited U.S. Department of the Interior figures that show drilling is now taking place on only 1,650 of the 7,740 active oil and gas leases in the western gulf.

Instead of lifting the ban now, Democrats want to research the issue of oil drilling to make an intelligent decision, Morano said.

Carl Orth can be reached at 727-815-1068 or corth@suncoastnews.com.

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