Florida's coast deserves protection from drilling
In recent memory, no
threat has united the Florida Keys like the prospect of oil drilling off
the Dry Tortugas.
That possibility led
to a public protest by 1,000 people in 1989, an event known as "Black
Friday." Eventually, drilling was banned from Keys waters and
eventually, that ban was extended to the rest of the Florida coastline.
It's easy to see why:
Florida's long and lovely shoreline is the state's greatest economic
asset. It is a home for millions and a playground for millions more, a
permanent tourism attraction and irreplaceable natural resource. The
prospect of that shoreline including an array of unsightly and
potentially polluting oil or natural gas drilling rigs is a nightmare
for Florida.
That's why so many
Floridians — including the state's two U.S. senators — were so upset
when they recently learned that the U.S. Department of Interior has
quietly redrawn the administrative boundaries for offshore areas in the
Gulf of Mexico.
The new boundary puts
most of an area off
Florida's
Panhandle, known as Area 181, under the control of pro-drilling
Louisiana.
In response, the two
senators, Democrat Bill Nelson and Republican Mel Martinez, have
introduced a bill called the Permanent Protection For Florida Act. The
bill would keep drilling as far as 260 miles off
Florida's
west coast and 150 miles off the Panhandle and the east coast.
Environmental groups,
including Key West-based Reef Relief, vocally oppose drilling off
Florida's coast. The Panhandle is far from the Keys but Gulf waters flow
right past the Keys — and over our coral reef.
We agree with Reef
Relief — we should pay attention to what's happening upstream — and we
support senators Nelson and
Martinez
in their efforts to protect
Florida waters. And we
are also concerned with the behind-the-curtain way that the boundaries
were redrawn, then published in the Federal Register over the holidays,
when most people's attention was elsewhere.
This matter is of
great concern to everyone in the state who cares about the area's
economy and natural resources. Something of such import should be
publicly discussed, not quietly redrawn and pushed through when the
watchdogs are distracted.
— The Citizen
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