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Oil drilling forum gets rolling; few lawmakers show

Posted Nov 2, 2009 by Catherine Dolinski, Tallahassee bureau

Updated Nov 2, 2009 at 04:11 PM

The Florida Symposium on Offshore Energy just kicked off at Florida State University, where guests are paying $50 a head to hear from experts on the legal, environmental and economic ramifications of lifting the ban on offshore oil drilling in Florida’s waters.

Oil drilling is poised to be the hottest topic of the 2010 legislative session, with House Speaker-designate Dean Cannon planning to re-introduce legislation that would lift the longstanding ban on drilling in state waters. The late-arrived House plan never made it to a vote in the Senate, but future Senate President Mike Haridopolos intends to file it in his chamber this time around.

In comments to reporters, the lead panelists vowed today to attack critical issues that legislative panels have barely scratched so far—like how much oil really lurks out there in state waters, and whether it’s financially worth the trouble to taxpayers and the state to permit drilling. So far, though, we’ve noticed only a small handful of lawmakers here to listen in. Interestingly, most of them voted no on drilling last spring: Reps. Leonard Bembry (D), Gary Aubuchon (R) and Peter Nehr (R). Rep. Rich Glorioso (R), who voted yes, is also here.

There is also healthy mix of legislative and Cabinet staff present—tasked, no doubt, with giving their bosses the digest version of the three-hour program later. Less visible is the green lobby, which is already grumbling about what it perceives to be a pro-drilling bias among panel members.