| The excellent editorial below
(The Tampa Tribune, July 11) blasts the false arguments
used by oil-drilling advocates who support the rush to increase drilling
off Florida's coasts. For
more information on the election-year revival of increased drilling
closer to Florida's shores and how we can combat it, see Reef Relief's
website by clicking HERE.
Reef Relief has an online petition on their home page that you can sign
onto by clicking. |
Floridians Should Not Be Panicked Into
Sacrificing Their Coast
The Tampa Tribune
Published: July 11, 2008
Big oil interests are using big lies to promote oil drilling off
Florida's coast. Trying to capitalize on the public's dismay
over high gas prices, the drill-everywhere crowd is misleading
citizens about the likely consequences.
Drilling, they say, represents no threat. Keep the rigs out of
sight - 12 miles or so - and you will never know they are there.
The drills are so safe they even endured Hurricanes Katrina and
Rita without a drop of oil reaching shore.
That's simply not true.
While drilling methods have improved, allowing the rigs near the
coast would present a grave threat to Florida's sandy shores,
coral reefs, coastal waters as well as the state's appeal to
tourists and residents alike.
Offshore oil drilling involves massive amounts of mud and toxic
metals that can pollute the air and water. Support and transport
operations can pose even greater threat of spills and mishaps.
A few years ago the Mobile Register reviewed a number of studies
that documented extensive mercury pollution around oil and gas
rigs, some as high as levels at Superfund sites. The water
around a platform off Texas had mercury levels 12 times higher
than were deemed safe by the U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency.
Tests of popular game fish around the rigs found most to have
unsafe mercury levels.
And the claim that offshore oil drilling withstood Katrina and
Rita is a fable.
The hurricanes destroyed 113 rigs and, according to an analysis
by the Houston Chronicle, caused at least 595 spills that spread
across four states, tainting inshore and offshore waters. The
Chronicle's investigation showed the pollution caused by the
hurricanes ranked "among the worst environmental disasters in
U.S. history."
In addition, more than 7 million gallons of oil were spilled
from storage depots and other facilities in southeast Louisiana.
Should a major spill occur off semitropical Florida, the harm
would be enduring. Studies after a Panama spill found it would
take 50 years for mangroves to recover and 150 years for coral
reefs. And oceanographers say a spill in the Gulf's Loop
current, which flows into the Gulf Stream, would be polluting
the Florida Keys' reefs or east coast beaches in a week or so.
While Florida's beaches are renowned for clear water and sandy
white beaches, Texas beaches are better known for tar balls,
cloudy water and the smell of petroleum, the result of offshore
rigs.
Stephen Leatherman, the Florida International University
professor known as Dr. Beach, studies and ranks beaches
throughout the nation. Texas beaches, he told the St. Petersburg
Times, "tend to be the trash can of the gulf," as everything
from oil drums to tar balls washes ashore.
Does anybody think this will be good for the state's economy or
quality of life?
Drilling off the state would do little to lower gas costs, at
best a few cents per gallon, and would not even be available for
seven years or more. It makes no sense to risk Florida's coast
for such a puny payoff.
Moreover, contrary to the oil interests' claims, there is no
shortage of domestic areas to drill. About 80 percent of the
nation's offshore gas and oil reserves already can be leased for
drilling. Of the 44 million acres of domestic reserves available
to the industry, more than 30 million have not been tapped.
President George W. Bush's administration has opened more than
26 million acres of land to the industry in recent years. Yet
this has done nothing to slow the increase of gas prices, which
have far more to do with a weak dollar and commodity speculation
than the lack of domestic supply.
The congressional agreement reached last year on drilling off
Florida is sensible. It keeps drilling at least 125 miles away
from Florida, with a 235-mile buffer off the state's West Coast
because military flight training is conducted there. The measure
opened up more than 8 million acres offshore to the industry,
which has not been utilized.
So why the push for a fire sale of leases now? The push has
nothing to do with obtaining energy independence or lowering
prices. It is about giving oil companies, many foreign owned, a
valuable entitlement that, once given, can never be taken away.
There may come a time, as the nation develops a comprehensive
energy plan that incorporates conservation, alternative fuels,
nuclear power and domestic production, when it is necessary to
consider some additional drilling off Florida. But that should
come only after rigorous attention has been given to the risks
involved and what can be done to minimize them. Floridians
should not be fooled by this transparent scheme to panic them
into sacrificing the state's natural treasures. |
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