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Talk of drilling deal may be too late

Florida’s congressional delegation wants a compromise to ban drilling close to shore, but finds itself with little leverage.

By WES ALLISON
Published June 28, 2006

WASHINGTON — So now they want to compromise.

Just hours before a scheduled House vote on a landmark bill to open the nation’s coasts to oil and natural gas drilling, Florida’s delegation scrambled Wednesday in hopes of winning more protections.

At a raucous delegation meeting, the second in two days, most of the state’s 25 House members agreed to seek a deal that would keep drilling at least 125 miles off Florida’s coasts, unless the state Legislature voted to allow it closer, and forbid drilling within the eastern Gulf of Mexico’s military training zone, which extends 234 miles off Tampa Bay.

It’s essentially the same deal the Floridians rejected late last year, when House Resources Chairman Richard Pombo sought their support for opening the eastern Gulf of Mexico to more energy exploration in exchange for a 125-mile buffer.

While these latest demands offer fewer protections than many members had wanted,   some capitulated after their colleagues convinced them that Florida’s no-drilling stance is no longer viable as energy prices rise.

''If each one (of us) has to give just a little to be in consensus, I think it will be in our best interest,’’ Rep. C.W. Bill Young, R-Indian Shores, told his colleagues.

But there was no guarantee, and only scant hope, that the rest of the House will accept Florida’s entreaties when it votes on a bipartisan bill to expand energy exploration in the nation’s outer-continental shelf where drilling currently isn’t permitted.

The bill, called the Deep Ocean Energy Resource Act, is scheduled for a vote before today’s 6 p.m. congressional baseball game, but could be postponed to Friday. It would keep oil and gas drilling 50 miles off Florida and other coastal states, unless state legislatures agreed to allow it closer.

States also could choose to ban drilling between 50 and 100 miles offshore.

As an incentive to drill, states that allow it within 100 miles would get 50 percent to 75 percent of the royalties that energy companies pay for drilling rights. It also would allow the Defense Department to veto drilling projects in its large Navy and Air Force training zone in the eastern gulf, but doesn’t expressly ban it.

Pombo, R-Calif., and the bill’s Democratic and Republican co-sponsors predicted easy passage today as is, without Florida’s demands. House Republican leaders boasted that it will provide a grand finale when Congress adjourns this  week for the July 4 recess.

''This drilling … bill is going to make sense to people in the country that know domestic energy production is important,’’ said House Majority Whip Roy Blunt, R-Mo.

The Pombo measure is backed by manufacturing, labor and farm interests, who say increasing the supply of natural gas by drilling in the eastern gulf will ease energy costs.

Many Democrats and a coalition of environmental groups oppose it, for fear that spills and industrial pollution from drilling will sully beaches and marine habitats, and some Floridians — including Young — believe the vote will be tight.

If so, that will give them some bargaining power. ''It all boils down to whether they need us,’’ said Rep. Clay Shaw, R-Fort Lauderdale.

The Floridians’ latest requests will be rolled into two amendments that will be considered during debate on the Pombo bill today.

The first and most difficult to pass, by Rep. Mike Bilirakis, R-Tarpon Springs, would give Florida a buffer of 125 miles instead of 100 miles. The state Legislature could vote to allow drilling within that buffer, but wouldn’t have to act to keep drilling beyond 50 miles.

The second, by Rep. Jeff Miller, a Panhandle Republican, would ban drilling within the military’s training zone, which runs from the eastern Panhandle south to the Keys, about 234 miles off Tampa Bay.

If they pass, most Florida members say they will support the amended version of the Pombo bill — delivering a sizeable chunk of votes. But the amendments face tough going at a time when political pressure to produce more domestic energy has never been higher.

Last month, the Floridians barely defeated an attempt to allow drilling for natural gas just 3 miles off the nation’s Atlantic and Pacific coasts and 9 miles off Florida’s gulf coast.

Rep. Adam Putnam, R-Bartow, who helped craft the bill with Pombo, warned his colleagues their chance of winning a 125-mile buffer today isn’t good.

''We are past the point of needing Florida’s vote to pass the bill,’’ Putnam told them at the meeting. After negotiating the 100-mile buffer with Pombo,  he added, ''I slept good at night knowing it wasn’t 20 miles.’’

Pombo opposes significant changes to his bill, a spokesman said, and doesn’t want to treat Florida differently than other states. Rep. John Peterson, R-Pa., a key sponsor, scoffed at the Floridians’ last-minute attempt to increase the buffer to 125 miles.

''What?’’ Peterson said when told of the demands. ''Why would we want Florida’s votes when we could win without them? To give the store away at the expense of public policy makes no sense.’’

Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, who met with Peterson here on Wednesday, said the state’s delegation should accept the Pombo bill if they can’t do better. “The tide has turned against Florida’s interests,” he said .

The delegation meeting at the Capitol was attended by 15 of the state’s 25 House members and the state’s two U.S. senators, Democrat Bill Nelson and Republican Mel Martinez.

The senators have offered a bill that would ban drilling at least 234 miles off the west coast and 150 miles elsewhere through 2022. They oppose the Pombo bill and have vowed to filibuster it if it reaches the Senate as is.

If Congress takes no action on drilling, then the Interior Department plans to open a vast swath of the eastern gulf some 100 miles from the Panhandle, called Lease-Sale Area 181, to drilling next year.

Other moratoriums protect the rest of the state’s coast until 2012, though several members in the House and Senate are trying to remove those.

Rep. Jim Davis, D-Tampa, who has introduced the senators’ bill in the House, said he was encouraged to see the House delegation agree on key protections Wednesday. Though he wants more distance and opposes giving the state Legislature the power to open near-shore waters, he said the delegation’s stance wasn’t far from his. Davis is running for governor.

''If the votes are tight (today), we as Floridians may be able to pass very strong protections for Florida,’’ he said.

''The one thing that’s unacceptable is not to fight. … You never know what your chances will be until you try.’’

[Last modified June 28, 2006, 22:44:12]