SFLDiver
Contributor
Passing on this important info from a friend of mine involved in the Surfrider Foundation.
Stop Florida Oil Drilling Deal
The House of Representatives voted for a bill HR 4761 that would lift the 25-year moratorium on oil and gas drilling off some of our country's most fragile coasts, including Florida. A U.S. Senate Republican compromise on Florida drilling could be voted on between now and July 29. This compromise will allow the Senate and House to start moving on a joint bill to open up the entire east and west coasts of the U.S. to new oil and gas drilling. Tell your Senator to vote No and protect our beaches and coastal waters and encourage investment in cleaner and cheaper energy solutions by using the subsidy that is given to the oil industry.
Sign their online petition and get more info at:
http://actionnetwork.org/campaign/florida_oilbill
Opening our coasts to destructive drilling would do little to lower prices at the gas pump, but it would threaten our beaches with pollution and potential oil spills. An offshore spill could easily be carried by ocean currents to neighboring states, with disastrous results. Tourism, property, and commercial and sport fishing wrecked in the wake of a huge oil slick could impair millions of jobs and weaken our coastal economies.
Here a couple of key reasons why Senator Martinez' bill is flawed:
1) Fails to terminate 98 non-producing offshore drilling leases already in place along Florida's Gulf Coast and Panhandle.
2) Gives the green light to accelerated offshore drilling plans in the Lease Sale 181 area off of Florida's Gulf Coast, calling for the first of a series of lease sales there within one year after the date of enactment of the Martinez drilling bill.
3) Within a proposed 125-mile zone of protection off of Florida's Gulf Coast, promised by the Martinez bill language to be set aside until 2022, any subsequent session of Congress could rescind the protection at any time, and this area could then be included for leasing in any future Five-Year OCS Leasing Program prepared by the Minerals Management Service.
4) No protection for any other coastal state is included in the bill language.
5) Substantial federal budget deficit increases would result from this language. The details remain unclear, and much of the cost is hidden beyond the budget window, but the proposal will certainly cost tens of billions of dollars over the next several decades.
6) No protection whatever is provided by this bill for Florida's Atlantic coast.
7) The Martinez bill, were it to pass the Senate, would clear the way for adoption in a House-Senate Conference Committee of parts or all of the House-passed Pombo drilling bill, HR 4761, with drastic impacts on all coastal states, including removal of 25-years of bipartisan congressional moratorium protections and rescission, nationwide, of all executive leasing withdrawals.
We simply do not need to sacrifice our beaches and coastal waters to meet America's energy needs. Cleaner, faster and less expensive energy solutions like energy efficiency and clean, renewable energy could start saving consumers and businesses money today and protect our beaches, marine waters and coastal economies.
Stop Florida Oil Drilling Deal
The House of Representatives voted for a bill HR 4761 that would lift the 25-year moratorium on oil and gas drilling off some of our country's most fragile coasts, including Florida. A U.S. Senate Republican compromise on Florida drilling could be voted on between now and July 29. This compromise will allow the Senate and House to start moving on a joint bill to open up the entire east and west coasts of the U.S. to new oil and gas drilling. Tell your Senator to vote No and protect our beaches and coastal waters and encourage investment in cleaner and cheaper energy solutions by using the subsidy that is given to the oil industry.
Sign their online petition and get more info at:
http://actionnetwork.org/campaign/florida_oilbill
Opening our coasts to destructive drilling would do little to lower prices at the gas pump, but it would threaten our beaches with pollution and potential oil spills. An offshore spill could easily be carried by ocean currents to neighboring states, with disastrous results. Tourism, property, and commercial and sport fishing wrecked in the wake of a huge oil slick could impair millions of jobs and weaken our coastal economies.
Here a couple of key reasons why Senator Martinez' bill is flawed:
1) Fails to terminate 98 non-producing offshore drilling leases already in place along Florida's Gulf Coast and Panhandle.
2) Gives the green light to accelerated offshore drilling plans in the Lease Sale 181 area off of Florida's Gulf Coast, calling for the first of a series of lease sales there within one year after the date of enactment of the Martinez drilling bill.
3) Within a proposed 125-mile zone of protection off of Florida's Gulf Coast, promised by the Martinez bill language to be set aside until 2022, any subsequent session of Congress could rescind the protection at any time, and this area could then be included for leasing in any future Five-Year OCS Leasing Program prepared by the Minerals Management Service.
4) No protection for any other coastal state is included in the bill language.
5) Substantial federal budget deficit increases would result from this language. The details remain unclear, and much of the cost is hidden beyond the budget window, but the proposal will certainly cost tens of billions of dollars over the next several decades.
6) No protection whatever is provided by this bill for Florida's Atlantic coast.
7) The Martinez bill, were it to pass the Senate, would clear the way for adoption in a House-Senate Conference Committee of parts or all of the House-passed Pombo drilling bill, HR 4761, with drastic impacts on all coastal states, including removal of 25-years of bipartisan congressional moratorium protections and rescission, nationwide, of all executive leasing withdrawals.
We simply do not need to sacrifice our beaches and coastal waters to meet America's energy needs. Cleaner, faster and less expensive energy solutions like energy efficiency and clean, renewable energy could start saving consumers and businesses money today and protect our beaches, marine waters and coastal economies.
