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What energy plan means for us
By BILL ADAIR and CRAIG PITTMAN WASHINGTON -- Florida is mentioned only twice in the 163-page energy blueprint released Thursday by the Bush administration, but look a little deeper and you'll see that the president and the state could be on a collision course. The report, which includes large color photos of oil rigs and electrical lines at sunset along with those of majestic mountains and other natural wonders, indicates the administration is gung-ho about finding new sources of energy. President Bush, promoting his plan in St. Paul, Minn., said, "If we fail to act, this great country could face a darker future." His plan proposes looser regulations on oil and gas exploration, a reconsideration of a ban on the reprocessing of nuclear fuel and a $4-billion tax credit for a new generation of highly fuel-efficient cars. It also orders a sweeping review to determine whether more energy resources can be extracted from public lands. "Environmental interests and energy production are not competing priorities," the president said. The report does not mention the controversial plans to allow drilling in the Gulf of Mexico near Pensacola, but it shows how Bush and his advisers sympathize with the energy and gas industry. An overview of the plan states that federal regulation of the nation's energy producers has unduly inhibited production and increased prices. In laying out a comprehensive strategy involving more domestic production and new energy technologies, the report mentions the wealth of untapped oil and gas in offshore areas and the bureaucratic red tape that companies encounter when they want to drill. That's an apparent reference to Chevron's problems getting authority to drill for natural gas south of Florida's Panhandle. The report also praises "the impressive environmental record" of offshore drilling. The report repeats Bush's commitment to explore in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and proposes a review that will include other locations in Alaska, the Rocky Mountains and the Gulf Coast. From Florida's perspective, a recommendation in Chapter 5 is the most important paragraph in the entire report. It says the administration should take a second look at the rules and laws for offshore areas. That paragraph raises the possibility that the administration could try to modify the moratorium that prevents new oil and gas leases within about 100 miles of Florida's coast. The recommendation also seems to support changing rules that give states a voice in blocking drilling near their coasts. "The report is sending a very pro-drilling message, that we can drill and mine our way to energy security," said Mark Ferrulo, director of the Florida Public Interest Research Group. "That certainly does not bode well for Florida's efforts to keep our beaches rig-free." During last fall's campaign, Bush said he supported the Florida moratorium, but he said companies with existing leases in the gulf should be handled "on a case-by-case basis." His administration is following through with a Clinton administration plan to sell new leases in an L-shaped tract known as Area 181, which begins off the Alabama coast near Pensacola. His comments during the campaign and the contents of the new report put the president at odds with his brother, Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, who has taken a zero-tolerance approach. Gov. Bush opposes the new leases in Area 181 and has joined with Florida Republicans and Democrats in opposing the 181 plan. Although the governor has downplayed the potential disagreement with his brother, he has said he will fight any plan that would bring drilling near the state's coast. Lisa Gates, a spokeswoman for the governor, said Thursday that Jeb Bush "applauds" the president for addressing energy but that "we will continue to remind the administration and others that drilling off our coast is not good for Florida economically or environmentally." The administration is scheduled to make a final decision on 181 this fall. Rep. Jim Davis, D-Tampa, said the report suggests the administration might try to expand drilling near the Florida coast. "I hope this language doesn't represent a decision to proceed with more offshore oil leases in the area that is protected by the moratorium," Davis said. "If they are thinking about going closer to coast than that, they have a huge fight on their hands." Rep. C.W. Bill Young, R-Largo, was more supportive of the president, saying that he was wisely considering all options. However, Young also vowed, "There will be a bit of a battle if there is an attempt to rescind the Florida moratorium." Other Floridians had a mixed reaction to the plan. To David Block, director of the Florida Solar Energy Center in Cocoa Beach, parts of the energy plan make sense, but most of it does not. Block, who runs the largest state-supported energy research center in the country, praised the president's call for more power plants, and agreed with the report that natural gas is the only fuel that makes sense in the short term. But he blasted the plan for supporting "clean-coal technology." "To believe coal is going to be clean is crazy," Block said. "Let's not try to pull the wool over people's eyes and pretend coal is clean. Coal is coal." Block also criticized the plan's one nod to solar power: offering a tax credit for the purchase of solar panels. Simply encouraging purchases of solar panels, regardless of how well they work, is repeating the mistakes of the past, he said. "That's what we went through in the 1980s," he said. "It brings out all the ex-shoe salesmen who gave solar a bad name. It's a poor tax-credit policy." Instead, he said, the president should embrace a bipartisan bill filed in the Senate that offers tax credits based on the efficiency of the solar panels. A panel that produces 1,000 kilowatts per hour would be worth twice the tax credit of a panel producing only 500 kilowatts per hour, he said. The report supports nuclear power, but building a nuclear power plant takes at least six years, said Mac Harris, a spokesman for Florida Power's Crystal River nuclear plant. So building more nuclear plants, as the president's plan calls for, "is certainly not a short-term solution," Harris said. Florida Power officials applauded the effort to create a national energy policy using a mix of fuel sources, said communications manager John Strickland. But he said Florida has no need for new transmission lines so power can be brought in from out of state. Florida Power and the state's other major utilities all have an extra 20 percent capacity to deal with peak demand times, he said. By comparison, California's utilities had only 2 percent capacity. "We're in real good shape," Strickland said.
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