State: Don't drill here, Gov. Bush asks Washington

TALLAHASSEE -- With fears rising that President George W. Bush will open up the Gulf of Mexico for more offshore oil drilling, the president's brother sent a sharp message to Washington this week: Keep away from Florida's coast.

Gov. Jeb Bush sent a letter Tuesday to Tom Slonaker, the acting secretary of the U.S. Interior Department, opposing the sale of an oil and gas lease that could allow drilling on nearly 6-million acres in federal waters off Alabama near the Florida border.

The federal government sells drilling rights to interested companies. This particular lease sale would be the first in the eastern gulf since 1988, Gov. Bush's letter notes.

"I am confident the new administration will recognize the need to protect sensitive natural resources located both offshore, and along Florida's coastline, for the benefit of the entire nation," Gov. Bush wrote.

Couldn't Gov. Bush just call up his brother and have a chat instead of going through all the bureaucratic maneuvering?

"I can't comment on that," said David Struhs, secretary of the Florida Department of Environmental Protection. "It's only the first week of a new administration. I think it's premature to guess how the situation might be resolved."

Bush's letter was mailed on the last day of a routine comment period for the federal Minerals Management Service. It was among some 400 comments received.

A.B. Wade, a spokeswoman for the Minerals Management Service, said Bush's letter would be considered along with all the other comments. It's not clear when the federal government might make a decision on the lease.

Bush's move was applauded by Florida environmentalists, who have for years fiercely fought attempts to place oil rigs off the state's famous beaches.

"Gov. Bush and Secretary Struhs seem more aggressive on this issue than even the previous administration, and we're very happy about that," said Mark Ferrulo, who monitors offshore oil drilling for the Florida Public Interest Research Group.

"Right now, protection of our shores is in Gov. Jeb Bush's lap. It's not going to happen at the federal level. President Bush has surrounded himself with the most pro-drilling Cabinet in history."

The lease in question could put drilling operations about 218 miles west of Tampa and just 30 miles south of Perdido Key in the Florida Panhandle, federal and state officials said.

"We've taken as strong a position as we know how to," Struhs said. "The lease is in federal waters. The state, in the final analysis, only has authority to comment. Every previous governor, and every member of the Florida (congressional) delegation, has been unanimous on this."

The key, said Ferrulo, is making sure Gov. Bush follows through, and keeps opposing attempts to open the gulf for more drilling.

President Bush has pledged to boost domestic energy production, but it's not clear where the oil and gas drilling would occur. Environmentalists are wary of the new Bush administration because Bush and many of his senior advisers have ties to the oil industry.

Florida has already been fighting Chevron, which wants to drill in the so-called Destin Dome, about 25 miles off Pensacola. The company does not yet have approval to drill there.

During the presidential campaign, George W. Bush said he supported the longstanding moratorium on oil drilling off Florida's coasts. But the new proposed lease technically isn't off Florida's coast -- it's off Alabama's.

President Bush was also unclear about how he would deal with existing leases like the one Chevron holds.

Last week, Florida Sen. Bob Graham grilled Gale Norton, Bush's nominee for interior secretary, about how she would handle drilling off Florida's coast.

Norton said she wouldn't comment on the Chevron lease because the matter is in litigation. But she said she and President Bush oppose new leases in the eastern gulf.

It's not clear whether the lease Gov. Bush opposes would be included in that.

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Lucy Morgan

From the Times state desk