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Florida Senators Warn They’ll Block Efforts to Allow Seismic Surveys Off Coast

Posted Jun 27, 2007 by Billy House, Washington Bureau

Updated Jun 27, 2007 at 06:15 PM

Florida’s two senators on Wednesday wrote a stern letter of warning to colleagues they will try to block efforts underway to direct or fund seismic surveying for oil and gas off the nation’s coasts.

Sens. Bill Nelson, a Democrat, and Mel Martinez, a Republican, said they were sharing their “strong objection” to the inclusion of such language into the Energy and Water Appropriations bill.

“We believe such attempts undermine the protections for states like Florida that do not wish to have oil and gas development off their shores,” they wrote.

Their letter was addressed to Sen. Byron Dorgan, a Democrat from North Dakota, and Sen. Pete Domenici of New Mexico, the ranking Republican on the Appropriations subcommittee on Energy and Water Development.

“If such language directing seismic surveys is included in the Energy and Water Appropriations bill, or any other legislation, we will use our senatorial rights to prevent this erosion of our coastal protections,” Martinez and Nelson warned.

Aides to Dorgan and Domenici did not return telephone calls.

Environmentalists and other critics of such seismic surveying for oil and gas say they agree it would be the first step to undermining and then removing the offshore drilling moratoriums that have been in place for a quarter-century.

The underwater explosions involved in such surveys are harmful to marine life, environmental groups say.