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Nelson makes unusual request for bill

The senator supports a drilling compromise but wants assurances that the House won’t weaken it.

By ANITA KUMAR
Published July 24, 2006

WASHINGTON — Florida Sen. Bill Nelson said he will vote against an oil-and-gas drilling compromise this week unless his colleagues promise not to alter the proposal later to match a more sweeping House bill.

Nelson, a Democrat who is running for re-election in November, filed his unusual request Monday evening, even though he supports the bill that opens much of the eastern Gulf of Mexico to exploration — with significant protections for Florida’s west coast.

“If the Senate position, providing protections for Florida’s economy and environment, is at risk in negotiations with House members, then I can’t support sending something over to them for a series of closed-door negotiations,” Nelson said in a statement.

“During these negotiations, supporters of more drilling easily could adopt their own horrendous plan to allow oil and gas rigs just several miles off the nation’s shorelines.”

Earlier this summer, the House easily passed a bipartisan bill that called for allowing drilling as close as 50 miles from the nation’s Atlantic, Pacific and Gulf coasts. States could opt to restrict it for as much as 100 miles offshore, or allow it as close as 3 miles.

Nelson’s amendment would prohibit the Senate from appointing a negotiating committee and the House from making any changes in the Senate bill before voting on it. Nelson spokesman Dan McLaughlin said Nelson would oppose any change that would weaken the protections outlined in the Senate bill.

Florida’s other senator, Republican Mel Martinez, who helped broker the Senate compromise, discouraged Nelson from filing the amendment after hearing of his colleague’s move from a reporter.

“Procedural delays and nonbinding proposals are not helpful to what has been a very difficult negotiation to protect Florida’s Gulf Coast,” Martinez said.

“It is counterproductive to purposefully antagonize the House.”

It’s unclear whether Nelson’s possible vote against the bill would lead others senators to follow suit in what was already expected to be a close vote. Senate leaders may even refuse the amendment from being heard.

Environmental groups that oppose the Senate bill say Nelson could have a significant impact on the vote, but others watching the bill find Nelson’s tactic puzzling.

“If he’s for the bill, he ought to vote for the bill,” said Jack Gerard, president of the American Chemistry Council.

“Some will try to use rules and other tactical measures  to thwart policy. We ought to look more at policy than politics.”

Debate on the bill is expected to begin as soon as Wednesday but could be delayed until next week.

“We’re not feeling too confident,” said Athan Manuel, director of lands program at the Sierra Club, which opposes the bill. “It’ll be a tough vote.”

Nelson said he asked Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist to try to persuade House leaders to agree to the Senate proposal but never received an answer

Nelson was in Chicago on Monday for a campaign event and could not be reached for comment. His staff said he expected to return to Washington on Monday night to talk to Frist at a dinner both were invited to attend.

The Senate bill would authorize drilling in about 8.3-million acres of the eastern Gulf of Mexico, including 2.5-million acres within a section known as Lease-Sale Area 181, a gas-rich area of the gulf, south and west of the Panhandle.

To win the backing of senators from gulf states that allow drilling — Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama — authors of the bill agreed to give them 37.5 percent of royalties from new leases. Now they get as little as 2 percent.

But senators from other states, including California and New Jersey, could block the bill from being debated until they get assurances that their coasts are protected.

California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said he is worried that the House and Senate will negotiate a deal that would minimize his state’s protections and is calling and writing senators to vote against the bill.

“I just want to let you know … I will do everything I can to protect our coastline,” he told reporters Monday. “I’m concerned that if the bill merges with the House bill it could lead to (the erosion) of the moratorium that has protected the coastline for 25 years.”

Times researcher Angie Drobnic Holan contributed to this report. Anita Kumar can be reached at akumar@sptimes.com or (202) 463-0576.

[Last modified July 24, 2006, 22:07:21]