KING-Bush proposes oil drilling in gulf
Site scaled back after Fla. outcry
By Eric Pianin and Sue Anne Pressley Washington Post, 7/3/2001
WASHINGTON - The Bush administration yesterday announced plans to open 1.5 million acres of the eastern Gulf of Mexico to oil and gas drilling, but backed away from an earlier proposal that would have allowed much more exploration closer to the coast of Florida.
The administration sharply scaled back the scope of the drilling under intense pressure from Governor Jeb Bush, the president's brother, and members of Florida's political and business establishment who feared that oil and gas exploration would lead to accidents and spills that could spoil their beaches and multibillion-dollar tourism industry.
Jeb Bush, speaking from his parents' home in Kennebunkport, Maine, said the compromise ''reflects significant progress in Florida's fight to protect our coastline,'' adding that ''any lease sales that do occur ... will occur off the coast of Alabama, not Florida.''
The announcement, made by Interior Secretary Gale A. Norton, relates to one of the most politically sensitive areas of President Bush's energy initiatives. The president has been criticized for trying to increase production at the expense of environmental concerns.
The administration has all but abandoned a proposal for drilling for oil in Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, and the Republican-controlled House recently went on record opposing drilling off the Florida coast and new oil, gas, and coal exploration in millions of acres of national monuments, dealing a blow to Bush's efforts to increase domestic extraction of fossil fuels.
Yesterday's decision significantly reduced the area that would be directly affected by drilling, from nearly 6 million acres originally proposed by the Clinton administration in 1997 to one-quarter that area. Jeb Bush and other Florida officials worked closely with the White House and the Interior Department to reshape the map of the proposed area, according to Norton.
Yet selling offshore drilling leases in an area of the eastern gulf heretofore off limits could give oil and gas companies an entree for more expansive operations in the future, critics said. The 4.5 million acres that were removed from consideration for drilling, including a tract lying only 17 miles from Pensacola, Fla., could be reconsidered in six years, Norton said.
Senator Bill Nelson, Democrat of Florida, said the administration's approach ''is the proverbial camel's nose under the tent'' and pledged to seek action in the Senate to block the sale of the leases for a year when Congress returns from its July Fourth recess.
Nelson last week put a hold on Senate consideration of the nomination of Washington lobbyist J. Steven Griles for the Interior Department's number two post after Griles said he favors offshore drilling in the eastern gulf.
''This is the first time the eastern Gulf of Mexico has been invaded with substantial oil drilling,'' Nelson said. ''It still poses a substantial threat to the white sand beaches of Florida, and Floridians simply don't want to have waves of oil lapping onto our shores.''
Oil and gas rigs are prevalent in the western and central waters of the Gulf of Mexico, but no federal lease has been offered in the eastern gulf since 1988.
The rectangular lease area within the Outer Continental Shelf is at least 100 miles from the shorelines of Florida, Alabama, and Mississippi and contains an estimated 1.25 trillion cubic feet of natural gas and 185 million barrels of oil.
That would be enough, Norton said, to provide cooking fuel for 1 million families for 15 years and to run 1 million families' cars for six years.
''Clearly, development of resources in the [Outer Continental Shelf] is an important part of our national energy strategy,'' Norton told reporters. ''My decision today represents a very reasonable compromise.''
The decision was hailed by two Republican representatives from Florida, Porter Goss and Joe Scarborough.
Goss hailed ''a solution that protects states' rights, while still offering opportunities for exploration of new energy sources.''
Scarborough said the state was closer to ''total victory.''
This story ran on page A2 of the Boston Globe on 7/3/2001.
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