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Florida hold'em

The Bush administration's last-minute attempt to bring oil drilling closer to Florida's Gulf Coast failed this week, but don't expect it to fold just yet.

The Bush administration pulled one more ace from its sleeve in a last-minute ploy to move oil drilling closer to Florida's coast. Apparently the scheme didn't succeed when a joint committee of Congress refused to add it to the final energy bill late Monday night. But Floridians won't be able to relax until a final bill is passed and the public has time to read the fine print.

Interior Secretary Gale Norton waited until Saturday, when few were paying attention, to launch the latest attempt to expand offshore drilling - by giving Louisiana control over a large swath of the eastern Gulf of Mexico. Louisiana loves oil rigs even when they pollute pristine wildlife refuges.

But how could Louisiana claim control of more than 1-million acres on Florida's side of the gulf? Easy, just redraw the map. Norton hoped to extend each state's boundaries into the Gulf of Mexico, and she drew the lines so that Louisiana would control at least half of a 3-million-acre parcel known as Tract 181.

Then, to make sure Louisiana would agree to reverse the current ban on drilling in Tract 181, Norton wanted to change the rules for sharing offshore drilling revenue with the states. Payments now are made only on leases within 3 miles of shore but would have been extended to the outer continental shelf, including Tract 181. In other words, the federal government would have paid Louisiana to approve drilling on Florida's side of the gulf.

Even Bush administration stalwart Mel Martinez couldn't abide the tactic. The senator was not swayed by any proposed inducements to Florida, including extending an existing drilling moratorium off Florida's coastline. "I am disappointed that the administration is seeking to aggressively push their proposal to open up (Tract) 181 and roll back Florida's hard-earned protections," he said Monday.

What should we expect from a president and vice president so closely allied with the oil industry? The energy bill being molded by the administration does too little to conserve energy or promote alternative fuels. It gives tax breaks to fossil fuel producers, as though they need more motivation with oil near $60 a barrel. Lawmakers refuse to make automakers improve fuel efficiency or force power companies to expand use of nonpolluting fuel sources.

A required inventory of offshore gas and oil reserves stayed in the bill, even though it makes no sense to do the costly study off Florida's coast if there is no intention of drilling there. Even Norton sees little sense in it, saying her department "would want to do (an inventory) where states want it."

The administration claim that this energy bill will help curb our dependence on foreign oil is a joke. Only a serious conservation effort can accomplish that. And drilling off the Florida coast isn't going to slow the line of tankers from overseas.

Instead, Florida's white sand beaches could end up looking like the Breton National Wildlife Refuge off Louisiana, where an oil spill last month killed 700 brown pelicans. Florida residents and politicians will have to remain vigilant, because this poker game is far from over.

[Last modified July 27, 2005, 01:03:14]