Florida officials outraged as U.S. proposes oil drilling 100 miles from st

[seafan]

Florida officials outraged as U.S. proposes oil drilling 100 miles from state

By Tamara Lytle
Washington Bureau
Posted February 9 2006

WASHINGTON · Concern over the nation's growing thirst for energy is driving a fresh proposal by the Bush administration to open another 2 million acres in the Gulf of Mexico to oil and gas drilling.
The plan, announced Wednesday by the Department of Interior, lays out the administration's blueprint for oil exploration from 2007-2012 and would allow drilling in the Gulf as close as 100 miles from Florida's coast.

snip

It also would open drilling to a much larger area of the Gulf than that sought by senators Mel Martinez and Bill Nelson of Florida in a proposal last week.
The Department of Interior holds the trump card, because the only way to overturn its plan would be if both the Senate and House passed a bill that set new boundaries agreeable to the president.

snip

Ultimately, however, the Bush administration can open the areas to drilling unless Congress specifically bans it.

snip

The battle has raged for years in Congress, with many Florida politicians trying to prevent drilling in the Eastern Gulf of Mexico.
But the Bush administration last month changed its definition of the Eastern Gulf so that much of the energy rich Lease Sale 181 area is now classified as part of the Central Gulf, even though it sits due south of Florida's Panhandle.

snip

Tiernan Sittenfield, legislative director of the League of Conservation Voters, said the whole proposal flies in the face of President Bush's State of the Union speech. "It's totally inconsistent with the president's admitting last week we're addicted to oil and now proposing even more drilling," she said.

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/florida/sfl-adrill09feb09,0,5204057.story?coll=sfla-news-florida

(Emphasis added)

[madfloridian]

1. Bill Nelson is working with Martinez on doing this.

I hate to see it.

[seafan]

2. Actually, the Nelson/Martinez plan looks pretty good, IMHO. See this:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=2078750&mesg_id=2078750


Here's the link to the article from the St. Pete Times that the above thread is based upon.

http://www.sptimes.com/2006/02/01/Worldandnation/Martinez__Nelson_craf.shtml

[Up2Late]

5. Still too close to may favorite beaches in Destin

But it's a hell of a lot better than the 3 to 6 miles off shore deal Santa Barbara, California got back in the 1960's.

[seafan]

7. The fact that * is railroading this through, without regard for anyone

or anything is like a swift kick in the gut.

The "Eastern Gulf of Mexico" is now the "Central Gulf"....

These people just never quit.

*The rule of law and the will of the people* mean nothing to them.


I would like to see a complete moratorium on this proposed drilling. I don't think we will be able to achieve that, as long as these thieves are in power. However, the plan (if there must be one....) that Nelson/Martinez presented seems to be acceptable to environmentalists, Dems in FL. (See St. Pete Times article referenced in my post above.)


Is it my overactive imagination, but is BushCo carpet-bombing us this week, what with all the fake terror threats, emptying out Senate offices again, explosive device scares at radio stations, church burnings, sneaking in Social Security private accounts in new legislation, pushing for rapid drilling everywhere he can....

Their implosion must be imminent.

[Up2Late]

10. You might be right about the "carpet-bombing," but I think mostly it's...

...for the purpose of "mis-direction," like what a magician does. A Magician distracts you with one hand to mask what he is doing with the other.

Usually they throw all this stuff out to distract us from the crimes they are covertly committing, but there's so much bad stuff out there already, they are probably throwing all this extra stuff at us to distract from the crap we've already seen.

They might also have noticed the "every man for himself" attitude in the congress, with the people who DO face re-election in the fall, not as easy to control by someone who does NOT.

[seafan]

11. Like an octopus squirts his ink; a skunk squirts his fragrance.....

...or like a roach poops when y're tryin' to smash 'im?

Yes, they are throwing everything against the wall now. Got them cornered.

[shanti]

12. hey, that's my opinion too

they are reeeeaaly ramping it up, because they know they haven't much time left for all the dirty work they need to still do. there's much more destruction left to do.

time's a wasting!:(

[geomon666]

3. I like how the greedy republicans are calling Bush an ass...

for being too greedy. Go to hell you disgusting pigs. All he has to do is threaten not to fund your re-election campaign and you'll rollover like a bowling ball going downhill.

[Ezlivin]

4. Once those wells are in place we will be completely free from ME oil!

Bush's plan is proceeding apace.

Soon we will be an energy independent country.

This time next year the oil prices will be down to about $10 a barrel.

:sarcasm:

[VegasWolf]

6. Great! Make Fla beaches suck like Texas beaches. After growing

up in Fla, I thought I had a pretty good idea of what Gulf beaches were like. I couldn't have been more appalled the first time I saw Texas beaches where one had to take tar remover with them because of the tar balls every three inches. You had to clean everything before you could even get back into your car and go home. I'll leave Texas to the Republicans, it is fit for them.

[DainBramaged]

8. HAHAHAHAH Fucking Republicants, ok to drill in Alaska but....

keep Florida pristine for the tourists LOLOLOLOLOL fucking hypocrites.

[markam]

9. I wouldn't worry about drilling the eastern gulf

The way current circulates in the gulf, the sediment deposits which created oil over millions of years in the western gulf really didn't occur. There isn't much oil to find, and the oil companies know it. If there really was a lot of oil, there would have been drilling 30 years ago.

[Az_lefty]

13. If we can drill in ANWR then we can drill in Tampa Bay...

don't like it? Then leave Alaska alone.

My apologies to Fl. Dems...

[f-bush]

14. Bend over Jeb: George is Coming!

[dysfunctional press]

15. don't worry, Florida-

a little more global warming/greenland ice melt, and they'll be 200-250 miles off your coastline in no time.