Posted: November 06, 2009

My speech at last night's Suncoast League of Cities town hall meeting on oil drilling, as prepared for delivery...

Thank you for inviting me to discuss this very important topic today. Thank you to the Suncoast League, Mayor Yakes, the City of Gulfport, and all of you for attending.
It’s always good to be in Gulfport, along the only part of my district that touches the water. It’s my goal to keep this water clean and to keep our shoreline clean and it’s my goal to protect the quality of life of my constituents in Gulfport.

Before I discuss the upcoming legislation, it’s important to touch on what happened just a few months ago in Tallahassee. The recent past gives us a very clear understanding of the way the oil lobby and their representatives in the Florida House do business.
You may remember that there was a bill last year which would have allowed merely a discussion about oil drilling. However, that wasn’t the bill which was heard on the floor of the House. An amendment was filed which would have allowed oil drilling just 3 to 10 miles off our coasts. This amendment was filed after 9pm the night before it was to be presented in council. The filing of amendments isn’t unusual. In fact, most amendments aren’t carefully planned in advance. They occur all the time in committees, councils, or on the floor. But this amendment to drill off our coast was different.

It involved a topic St. Petersburg Times columnist Howard Troxler called “only the biggest decision in our state’s history”, and I agree with him. And so, it was a surprise to see such an amendment filed just before most people go to bed and debated before many people eat breakfast.

The strategy was to shut the public out, and shut out the bill’s likely opponents. The only people not shut out were the oil lobby and House Leadership. And not only were they not shut out, they were well prepared. Powerpoint presentations, charts, photos, experts flown in, oil industry representatives. It was a surreal scene, coming on the heels of Speaker Ray Sansom’s resignation and all the secrecy surrounding his situation.
So, just when you think things can’t get any more dysfunctional in Tallahassee, we got this.

Even though the amended bill passed the House, fortunately, the Florida Senate decided against hearing the amended bill.

Rep. Dean Cannon, who sponsored the amendment, said he just wanted to start a "a mature, thoughtful conversation.” Does this sound mature or thoughtful to any of you?

Interestingly, since session ended, Rep. Dean Cannon has admitted that maybe 3 miles was too close, now completely contradicting his earlier positions and statements.

So, we are here today because this debate is back, and so is the strategy. The Times/Herald has stated that a “secretive group of powerful legislators, business groups, and Texas oil companies” has cash and confidence.

You’ll hear from one who isn’t secretive this evening. I’m appreciative of my friend Amy Maguire being here. Amy is a reasonable voice, who cares a lot about the Tampa Bay area, and while she and I disagree on this particular issue, I respect her advocacy.

My job, however, is to advocate for my constituents. So here are some facts. Nothing fancy…just boring facts.

Fact:

Oil Spills happen all the time. The most recent one, of course, happened off the coast of Australia, at a rate of 400 barrels of oil per day since Aug. 21. After several failed attempts, the Thai crew has apparently fixed the leak, though not without causing a major fire on the West Atlas jackup rig. Now we keep hearing that we shouldn’t worry about what has happened in the Timor Sea because of the new, advanced technologies which will be in place off our coast and because the Timor Sea spill was the result of bumbling third world technology. That simply is not true. The technology in place in the Timor Sea, the West Atlas jackup rig, is the same kind of rig that will be 3 miles off the coast of places like Manatee and Sarasota County, and 10 miles off the coast of Pinellas County, just outside our aquatic preserve. This is a rig that had been called “a star”, with a “proven track record” and “the choice of modern-day rig owners”. While Thailand’s PTT Exploration & Production is responsible for the operation, the rig’s owner is Norway’s Seadrill, which also has a presence in the Gulf of Mexico.

We also keep hearing that thousands of Jobs will be created here in Florida. Again, that simply is not true. We don’t have the trained workforce in Florida to work on these rigs, and even with training, it will be years before these jobs become available – IF they become available. The crew working off the coast of Australia was Thai, not Australian. There are no guarantees that a crew in the Gulf of Mexico will be made up of Floridians.
When it comes to the Timor Sea, we’re just beginning to learn of the consequences of this spill. According to the Associated Press, residents living on the small islands off the coast of West Timor are now suffering skin problems and acute diarrhea after eating contaminated fish. Ferdi Tanoni, chairman of the West Timor Care Foundation has stated that "Villagers' income has dropped by 80 percent.”

And it’s not just humans who are in danger. Biologist James Watson, commissioned to carry out a government survey of the West Atlas drilling rig, has said the oil appeared to be drawing certain species into the toxic area, where they were at grave risk.
In his report, he wrote - "The presence of dying birds and dead sea snakes suggest that there is an immediate risk to species utilizing the water that has been affected by the oil slick…It is possible that species that are dying or dead and lying in oil-affected water may not stay afloat for long periods of time, making it unlikely that we would find large numbers of dead animals.”

Is this what we want happening along the shore of Boca Ciega Bay?

58,000 gallons, or 1,400 barrels, of oil leaked into the Gulf of Mexico just this summer, 30 miles off the coast of Louisiana. The Coast Guard reported a 16 mile by 3 miles “rainbow-like” oil sheen on the water. The spill came from Shell Oil’s underwater pipeline. Now this is important. Just because something is out of sight, just because a rig may be several miles away and in working order, just because it may be the most technologically advanced oil platform ever, does not mean we’re immune to a spill. And in fact, Florida’s warm waters might actually facilitate damage caused by an oil spill.
Scientists report that cold-water oil spills, like that of the Exxon Valdez, are not nearly as damaging as those which take place in warmer waters, thus making Florida, with its marshlands and sandy beaches, many times more vulnerable than Prince William Sound in Alaska.

Spills happen all the time. If you visited South Padre Island off the coast of Texas this summer, you were probably greeted by giant blobs of oil on the beaches. The AP reported that the blobs were as “big as basketballs”. Now, they didn’t shut down the hotels, but they did inform tourists that baby oil can be used to wash the skin if contact with crude oil occurred.

Is this what we want happening along the shore of Boca Ciega Bay?

Finally, the oil spilled from Hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005 caused considerable damage to offshore platforms. According to the U.S. Department of Interior, 115 platforms were destroyed, there was damage to 52 others, and a near total shut-down of the Gulf's offshore oil and gas production.” The resulting oil spills – 741,000 GALLONS, were large enough to be seen from space, according to several reports.

FACT:

Beachfront drilling in Florida won’t automatically be American oil. It will belong to ExxonMobil, or Shell or BP, or another multinational company that will be just as free to sell the stuff to China or India as they are to sell it to Americans.
Speaking of China, it was reported last week that the state-owned China National Offshore Oil Corporation is intending to buy stakes in Norwegian-owned leases in the Gulf of Mexico. China National Offshore Oil Corporation or CNOOC – has recently been accused of such abuses as land seizure to the pollution of rice fields and water systems with oil waste. This is not a scare tactic, it is a fact.

FACT:

You’ve heard the expression “Oil and water don’t mix”. It's likely that oil and weapons testing wouldn’t mix either. A 2005 letter from Sec. of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, who’s not exactly an environmentalist, to the Chairman of the Committee on Armed Services stated that the area east of the military mission line, primarily Florida’s panhandle, drilling structures and the associated development would be “incompatible with military activities such as missile flights, low flying drone aircraft, weapons testing, and training.” Are oil profits for a few more important than the advancement of our military goals?
This specific issue is one that Senator Bill Nelson and his staff have been most knowledgeable on and I’m certain we will hear more about.

FACT:

According to the best case scenario by the Interior Department’s Mining & Minerals Service, the Eastern Gulf has 6.25 billion barrels of oil. Since the U.S. consumes around 20 million barrels of oil a day that amounts about 10 months of oil.
Why would we risk our environment, our tourism-based economy (Florida's tourism industry generated $65 billion in 2006, with $16.3 billion generated in payroll to the 964,700 Floridians directly employed in tourism.) …for 10 months of oil? And just how long before that 10 months worth of oil becomes available?

These big oil companies don’t recover oil overnight. BP’s Thunder Horse platform, the biggest in the Gulf of Mexico, first began drilling in 1999 but did not produce oil for a decade. It is possible that we may have to wait ten years for 10 months of oil.

My hope is that Leadership in Tallahassee will focus on renewable, clean energy, so we aren’t relying on oil in ten years. Much of my time in the legislature has been dedicated to that cause, even though it is often an exercise in futility. Candidly, I don’t understand why those with business interests, forward-thinkers, are so eager to embrace the 19th-century technology of fossil fuels, rather than the opportunities presented by a green economy, a prosperous economy of the future.

As you can tell, I think beachfront drillling is a really bad idea. I think the risks far outweigh the rewards, which I see as non-existent. For those who support this proposal, those who don’t live here, and who don’t care about Florida, the reward is great. And I don’t begrudge people for wanting to make money. But I care. And I think most Floridians, if armed with all the facts, and not simply overwhelmed with propaganda and expensive marketing, will care too.

Thank you again for allowing me to be here and I look forward to a mature, thoughtful debate.