By SCOTT MADDOX

Special To The Tampa Tribune

December, 2009

In 2008, a super-modern, hi-tech, state-of-the-art oil drilling rig was installed 250 miles off

the Coast of Australia. As I write this, Australians are grappling with a massive spill that

stretches more than 85 miles long and covers nearly 9,000 square miles. The latest

estimates show that hundreds of thousands of gallons of oil have spilled and continue to

spill from this brand new rig, which burned out of control for at least several weeks.

The rigs being proposed for Florida won’t be 250 miles from the coastline; they will be a

few miles from shore.

If such a spill were to occur even 10 miles off Florida’s coast, the impact would be nearly

cataclysmic to the state’s fragile ecosystem. Equally devastating would be the impact on

jobs, taxes and our economy. It would cost taxpayers millions to clean up such a mess

while scaring away hundreds of thousands of visitors.

The end result would be to jeopardize economies and set our state budget back by billions

of dollars.

On this issue, those who care about our beaches, coastal fisheries, aquaculture and

ecotourism, as well as raw economics, should all be very concerned about the negative

impact even a small spill would bring.

And yes, the spill mentioned above is considered a small spill.

Further, a recent news report details the fallacy of using “subsea” (a.k.a. “not visible”) rigs

in the shallow waters off Florida’s coast. Even industry officials now admit that the

“subsea” or “low horizon” rigs simply won’t work for depths that are found in the Gulf of

Mexico.

This begs the question: Are we being told the truth about any of this?

In the final analysis, while there are some good reasons to consider offshore oil drilling, I

simply can’t see a good reason to support allowing dangerous oil rigs within swimming

distance of Florida’s coastline.

The proposition is all risk and no reward. It will not only put our environment at great risk,

it will put our economy in grave peril and could hamstring our state’s budget for

generations to come.

Our state needs sensible economic and energy policies. Sadly, there are no easy fixes or

simple solutions to the problems our state faces.

While we should always be willing to consider all options, sometimes we also need to

reject ideas that will hurt Florida in the long run. Near-shore drilling is one such idea.