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By WES ALLISON, Times Staff WriterBut backers of a plan to open some off-limits areas read the letter from the defense chief differently.
WASHINGTON - In a new letter to the Senate Armed Services Committee, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld says drilling for oil and gas in the eastern Gulf of Mexico off Florida could hamper military training, particularly firing and flying exercises.
But the letter, which was touted Thursday by Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., as a victory for opponents of offshore drilling, simply reiterated the position the military has held for more than 20 years.
And advocates of a proposed congressional deal to allow drilling as close as 125 miles to the state's coast said they had incorporated the military's longstanding concerns into the plan, so Rumsfeld's letter added nothing new.
Nelson, a member of the Armed Services Committee, said the Defense Department's concerns mean more coming directly from Rumsfeld. He had asked the secretary for his view of gulf drilling in October.
Much of the eastern gulf is now off-limits to drilling, thanks to a patchwork of federal moratoriums, but many members of Congress and industry are pushing to open those waters. They argue that the patchwork bans will soon begin expiring, so a compromise needs to be struck.
"It is a clear signal to drilling proponents to stop," Nelson said late Thursday of Rumsfeld's letter. "This is what we needed in our constant battle against the oil industry to stop this inevitable march toward Tampa Bay."
In the letter, dated Wednesday, Rumsfeld said areas east of a "military mission line" - about 200 miles offshore - "are especially critical to DoD due to the number and diversity of military testing and training activities conducted there now, and those planned for the future.
"... Drilling structures and associated development would be incompatible with military activities, such as missile flights, low-flying drone aircraft, weapons testing, and training."
But the military doesn't use all of that area, and in his letter Rumsfeld reiterated his department's willingness to work with the Interior Department to deal with oil and gas exploration. The vast majority of Lease Area 181, an oil-rich region off the coast of Tampa Bay, is outside the military mission line.
Representatives for Gov. Jeb Bush, Rep. Jeff Miller, a Panhandle Republican whose district includes Eglin Air Force Base, and House Resources Committee Chairman Richard Pombo, R-Calif., said they worked with the military when they crafted a deal to open waters 125 miles offshore to drilling.
States, rather than the federal government, would get to decide whether to allow drilling closer to shore.
The deal has not been approved by Congress, thanks to opposition from Nelson and several other Florida members, but advocates hope to pass it next year. Under terms of the deal, the Interior and Defense departments would jointly determine where to allow drilling, as Rumsfeld noted they do now. The president would have final say over disagreements.
"We were all aiming for protections for our military bases, their exercises, and their training areas," Bush spokeswoman Alia Faraj said, adding that a drilling deal is "a priority for the governor."
Nelson said the deal didn't provide enough protections for Florida's environment or the military.