Washington – When Florida’s congressional delegation narrowly defeated an effort to lift a 25-year-old ban on energy exploration off the nation’s shoreline, opponents of offshore drilling rejoiced.
But it appears the elation may be short- lived. Pressure to open the Gulf of Mexico to oil and gas exploration is building, and several members of a delegation once mostly united against any drilling suggest it may be time for compromise.
“We can’t put our heads in the sand and pretend the drilling threat is over,” said Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R-Fla., one of several lawmakers who last fall opposed a House- brokered drilling compromise but now says she’s open to negotiation. “We stopped it this time only because it was so horrible. This time we see the writing on the wall. We can’t hold that coalition together.”
By a vote of 217-203, the House rejected an effort this month to strike the congressional ban that protects much of the coastline from drilling for natural gas. Though largely a symbolic move because a presidential moratorium still exists, the move would have essentially put a congressional seal of approval on efforts to drill as close as 9 miles to the Florida coast.
And Ros-Lehtinen said some of the House members who joined forces with the Florida members to reject the proposal told her that with energy costs rising, they’ll support drilling off the Florida coast at some point.
“They told me, ‘We’re not going to be with you if it’s further out,”‘ Ros-Lehtinen said, referring to the distance from shore of proposed exploration.
The industry is eager to explore what it sees as gas-rich pockets of the Gulf of Mexico, and more than a dozen proposals for drilling off the coast are in the works. The House is expected to take up an energy bill in June.
Backers say drilling in Florida could help alleviate an energy crunch. Opponents say it could spoil the state’s beaches and that increasing vehicle fuel efficiency standards would do more to lower gasoline prices.
