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Graham, Bush discuss permanent drilling ban
By Times staff and wire reports
© St. Petersburg Times, TALLAHASSEE -- A compromise announced last month in Washington is supposed to ensure that oil and gas rigs will stay at least 100 miles off the Panhandle coast. Now, Sen. Bob Graham wants to take the ban even further. The Democratic senator and GOP Gov. Jeb Bush met Friday morning to discuss Graham's proposal to replace an existing moratorium on oil and gas rigs with a permanent ban. Graham and members of Florida's congressional delegation introduced the bill in April, and Bush said it has his approval. "It's our proposal that they are supporting," Bush said. The bill would also provide about $90-million for the federal government to buy existing leases to ensure that oil rigs are never used near Florida's coast. Chevron USA holds a lease about 25 miles south of Pensacola where it wants to drill up to 21 natural gas production wells. Its permit is pending in the U.S. Commerce Department and could be decided later this year. The possibility that drilling could be permitted on the Chevron lease so quickly adds some urgency to the issue because it could lead to other companies' applying for permits on other leases, Graham said. "As long as those leases are out there somebody, as Chevron is doing now, can apply for a drilling permit," he said. But Graham's bill faces difficult odds because influential lawmakers from Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana support more drilling in the gulf. Bush said the state must meet dueling energy and environmental needs. "But as you get closer to the shoreline, the (threat) to the environment becomes too high a risk," Bush said.
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From the Times state desk
From the state wire
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