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Florida congressional delegation opposes changes in drilling limits

Posted Jun 29, 2009 by William March

Updated Jun 29, 2009 at 02:38 PM

Sen. Bill Nelson is attempting to reassemble the formerly solid coalition of Florida Congress members against moving oil or gas exploration closer to Florida shores, with some success.

Nelson released a letter today signed by 24 of the 27 Floridians in the U.S. House and Senate, saying the federal government should make no move that would allow oil or gas exploration to impinge on use of the eastern Gulf of Mexico as a miltary training area.

According to a Nelson spokesman, that would mean not altering the current limits that forbid drilling within at least 100 miles of Florida’s Gulf coast, and farther out—more than 200 hundred miles—from Tampa Bay.

Besides Nelson, the letter was signed by Sen. Mel Martinez, and by every Florida U.S. House member except three Republicans—John Mica of Winter Park, Bill Posey of Rockledge and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen of Miami.

The letter went to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and to Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and House Minority Leader John Boehner.

It doesn’t refer specifically to any mileage limits on drilling, nor to a recent Senate committee vote that set Nelson off on his latest anti-drilling campaign. That vote added to a pending energy bill a clause that would open areas within 10 miles of the Panhandle and 45 miles off the Florida west coast to drilling.

Instead, it describes the military use of the eastern Gulf as a unique training ground for air and sea weapons testing and combat training, and says, “We respectfully urge you to include language that protects this important national asset from encroachment.”

Nelson spokesman Dan McLaughlin said that because the existing drilling limits were based on the military use of the area, the letter in effect endorses the status quo in drilling limits.