Both Bushes jump on Kerry's drilling stance

His supporters say all John Kerry meant to say in Tampa on Tuesday was that he has a reasonable view on oil drilling but opposes it off Florida's coast.

Instead, his imprecise remark while campaigning at Ballast Point drew a swift condemnation from Gov. Jeb Bush, who on Wednesday accused Kerry of supporting drilling off Florida's beaches. And as Kerry moved on to Louisiana, he attracted more criticism on the issue, but this time from the other point of view.

The Bush-Cheney campaign criticized the Massachusetts senator for opposing a plan last year to expand natural gas exploration off the Gulf Coast of Louisiana, where it is popular, as well as Florida.

Just another day in a presidential campaign defined by a daily barrage of faxes, e-mails and press conferences filled with charges and countercharges.

The whipsaw episode underscored a couple of political truths: Offshore drilling is a complex issue with regional nuances that have put the Florida governor and his brother, President Bush, at odds. And Kerry has a knack for ambiguity that can make it easy for his opponents.

It started Tuesday when the Democratic presidential candidate sought to highlight his commitment to the economy while protecting the environment before a group of invited guests. The senator, who fought against drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, stressed that he doesn't oppose drilling altogether.

"The largest unexplored oil field in the world is actually the deep water oil out in the gulf," he said, standing on the shore of Hillsborough Bay. "Now, there is a capacity to protect what we have today, the protections for the coast of Florida, and still be able to drill in those locations where they're already permitted, already had the environmental impact study, they already have the leases."

Gov. Bush, who has been at odds with his brother on the issue, pounced like a wildcatter on a new geyser. Referring to "Kerry's insistence on offshore drilling in Florida," Bush said, "There is probably 10 percent of the people of this state that would support a candidate for higher office that believes what John Kerry believes."

Nonsense, responded the Kerry camp. "John Kerry has consistently opposed drilling off the Florida coast, and I'm here to tell you he's fought against it," said campaign spokesman Mark Kornblau.

Kerry's voting record backs that up. His murky comments in Tampa did not.

Even environmentalist supporters who heard Kerry on Tuesday acknowledged scratching their heads after he spoke.

"He came across sounding equivocal," said former Audubon Society president Clay Henderson, who sat in the front row.

Afterward, he said he discussed the drilling comments with Florida Sen. Bob Graham and former Environmental Protection Agency chief Carol Browner. They concluded Kerry meant drilling in deep waters off Louisiana and Texas was acceptable, but not anywhere near Florida. Graham said he had heard Kerry talk about drilling often enough that he knew Kerry distinguished between the deep water gulf and sensitive Florida coastline.

But Gov. Bush noted that his brother's administration made a deal in 2002 to pay Chevron and two other companies $115-million for oil and gas leases near the beaches of Pensacola. He said Kerry's comments suggested the Democrat would have allowed drilling there.

"I'm outraged and I know Sen. Graham should be outraged as well," Gov. Bush said. "All his allies better teach him a thing or two about environmental policy before he aspires to be president of the United States."

In 2001, the Bush administration in Washington supported an effort - opposed by Gov. Bush - to sell oil and gas leases near Florida's coast. Even when the administration shrank the area under consideration and moved it further offshore, Kerry voted for an amendment by Florida Sen. Bill Nelson to block any new leases.

"It's dueling Bush administrations," said Betsy Loyless, a policy analyst with the League of Conservation Voters. "How John Kerry got caught in the crossfire is mystifying, because clearly John Kerry has a very strong record against drilling in the eastern coastal areas of the gulf."

In 2003, Kerry backed Graham's effort to thwart expanded natural gas exploration in the Gulf of Mexico and elsewhere, an expansion the White House supported. As Kerry campaigned in Louisiana on Wednesday, the Bush campaign cited that vote as out of step with Louisianians.

Florida is light years from Louisiana on drilling. Few issues unite Floridians as much as the perception that offshore drilling could damage their beaches. Some environmentalists contend that Al Gore lost the White House because he waffled on this issue.

Most environmental groups lean Democratic, and their officials on Wednesday tended to give Kerry the benefit of the doubt. Still, some noted the lack of a declarative no-drilling-off-Florida statement by the candidate.

Such a statement came from his campaign Wednesday, after Gov. Bush put it on the defensive.

"It was an opportunity missed by Sen. Kerry not to say flat out that Florida's coast will never be rigged under his administration. Gov. Bush has that position," said Mark Ferrulo, executive director of the Florida Public Interest Research Group.

Frank Jackalone of the Sierra Club said he was much more worried about new drilling near Florida under a Bush administration with close ties to the oil industry than under a prospective Kerry administration: "I couldn't imagine Kerry supporting more drilling near the beaches."

- Adam C. Smith can be reached at 727 893-8241 or adam@sptimes.com

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