http://blogs.creativeloafing.com/dailyloaf/2010/03/15/the-fight-against-nearshore-oil-drilling-in-florida-isnt-nearly-over/
special thanks to RIchard Charter and Creative Loafing
The fight against nearshore oil drilling in Florida isn’t nearly over
March 15, 2010 at 3:35 pm by Cathy Harrelson

The last year could be considered a success in local environmental activism. After years of support for these measures down the west coast, and varied stakeholder input across the Tampa Bay watershed, the Suncoast Sierra Club headed the coalition that created the space for passage of strong, local fertilizer and landscape management ordinances. These measures passed in Gulfport, unanimously in St. Petersburg, and in January of 2010, the strongest ordinance in Florida was passed by the Pinellas County Board of County Commissioners in a 6-1, vote. (A video of the meeting can be found  here.) These actions are critical to the health of our ponds, streams, rivers, Gulf and Tampa Bay. Algae fed by excessive nitrogen runoff contributes to the explosive harmful algal blooms like Red Tide and the 14-mile long brown goo that lived and spread across Tampa Bay last year.

Suncoast Sierra Club continues to participate in this process by working for ordinances in Hillsborough and Manatee Counties, as well as through participation in the Tampa Bay Estuary Program’s educational development and outreach. (The TBEP Urban Fertilizer Use information is located on their website.) These regulations will be most effective if we can effect a sea change in the way residents view their own yards & lawns, and by taking personal responsibility for learning how to do it right. Sierra Club has committed to assisting TBEP and Pinellas County with that ongoing effort. With help from our friends in the Audubon Society, the Florida Native Plant Society, the Pinellas County Extension, Green Florida, and many others, we add our voices to the growing chorus of folks calling for “Food Not Lawns,’ creating Florida yards and neighborhoods using native and Florida-friendly plants, and shifting to more sustainable and affordable approaches to our green spaces.

As usual, in 2009 our Coastal Task Force had to perform an about-face from fertilizer to offshore and nearshore oil drilling. As a member of the Protect Florida’s Beaches coalition,  we helped successfully lobby in last year’s Florida Legislative Session to put the brakes on nearshore (3-10 miles) drilling proposals. But as we’ve come to know, this is the “threat that never dies.” Year after year we’ve stepped up to testify and lobby against lifting the ban on drilling in the Federal Waters of the eastern Gulf, the area from 10-236 miles. Year after year we’ve held the Feds at bay, through the efforts of many, including U.S. Congressman C.W. Bill Young. Congressman Young has been the guy holding back that oil-slicked tide for decades in the U.S. House, supported by many other elected officials, businesses, environmentalists and citizens. We must monitor and stay ready to defend against the continued issue of lifting the moratorium on drilling in Federal waters – language that has been surreptitiously added to the Senate versions of the Federal Climate Bill. Our own Senator Bill Nelson has threatened to filibuster if the Gulf drilling language isn’t removed from the Climate Bill. (Go Senator Nelson!)

Now, the issue has expanded. There are some in the Florida Legislature who have become mysteriously and rabidly attached to selling Florida’s future to drilling interests in our nearshore waters.The iconic enemy of our coastal environment and coastal tourism is the oil rig, with its polluting drilling operations and threats of larger spills. This enemy could now could appear 3-10 miles off our coastlines. This issue has become so front and center that a grassroots effort to combat it was conceived late last year and executed on February 13th. Hands Across the Sand was a simple, grassroots event that pulled 10,000+ citizens and politicos of diverse economic, political and business backgrounds out to the beaches on a cold, windy day. Our local coalition, Love Tourists Not Drilling, organized 3,000 people on Pinellas County beaches alone! It was an amazing sight and an incredible experience of community.

So now what? Coastal drilling bills have been filed in the House and Senate of the Florida Legislature for the 2010 session. Whether or not these bills come forward through the maze of largely mid-Florida, conservative-led committees remains to be seen, but it is something we will all be following in the days ahead. Though this is often debated, we believe the non-coastal leadership in the legislature is determined to push this through this year. Why?

1. The non-coastal, ultra-conservative leadership has control now, but elections can change things (at least we’d like to think so). They will want to strike while the iron is hot. Even the President mentioned oil drilling in his State of the Union Speech. However, it is notable that he mentioned drilling once, while he showcased his support for building a renewable energy future 12 times.

2. We currently have a governor who very publicly came out in favor of coastal drilling during the 2008 Presidential campaign, lessening the prospect of a veto. Whereas, all three leading gubernatorial candidates, Sink, McCollum & Dockery have come out against coastal drilling.

3. The push toward renewables is gaining strength through targeted stimulus funding, tax credits & rebates, constantly-improving technology and a slowly-dawning recognition by financial institutions of the profitable role they can play in bringing renewable technologies to mainstream America. It all screams the same thing: “Oil is over.” Say it with me, “Oil is over.” Investment guru Warren Buffett talked about reaching peak 0il in 2008. Like him or not, he has seldom been wrong. And that was 2 years ago! Even the oil industry is talking about 2030 or 2035 as the end of oil. The impetus to change is right here, right now, and they know they must grab every last subsidized dollar they can out of Oil.

4. The increasingly insistent effects of Climate Change will continue to lap at our doors here in Florida. Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions will again take center stage as the U.N.’s International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) will update its 2007 climate change and sea level rise report with a resounding: “Oh golly, Florida, you’re in deepŠwater.” This will make that pesky fossil-fuel burning thing even more distasteful than it is now. Oil is over. Just keep saying it.

These two issues are emblematic of a larger battle for sustainability versus consumption as the opposing economic models for our communities, our nation and our planet. Change is in the air, and the crack in the earth is generated from the ground up. That means us – you and me. National policy was lacking for years and it’s safe to say any success at that level will be diluted at best. The rubber hits the road right here in your home, your car, your yard, your life. Does this require duty and personal responsibility? Yes. Is it also an opportunity to make a real difference? You betcha. What we do here pushes up and out to affect the larger community in Tampa Bay, Florida and beyond. Contact your council members, your county commissioners, your state legislators. Stay informed through our new website, www.suncoastsierra.org, and Facebook page and the networking opportunities we’re developing. Sign up for our e-newsletter. Check out Hands Across the Sand on the web and Love Tourists Not Drilling on Facebook. Let’s get this party started.

Cathy Harrelson
Conservation and Coastal Task Force Chair for the Suncoast Sierra Club