http://www.floridatoday.com/article/20100113/BREAKINGNEWS/100113022/

Eglin Air Force Base commander says drilling off Florida’s coast could affect operations
BY JIM ASH * FLORIDA TODAY CAPITAL BUREAU * JANUARY 13, 2010
       
TALLAHASSEE — In an unusually candid acknowledgement, the commander of Eglin Air Force Base told lawmakers Wednesday that oil and gas drilling in Florida waters could pose a threat to military operations.

Col. Bruce McClintock, who commands 5,400 men and women and a base that generates $1.54 billion in economic activity, told the House Military Affairs and Local Policy Committee that pipelines associated with drilling could interfere with flight testing.

When Eglin tests missiles by firing them at drone aircraft over the Gulf of Mexico, the drones and the spent missiles “have to fall somewhere,” McClintock said. The problem arises when the industry installs above-water pumping stations for the pipelines, McClintock said.  The pumping stations attract sport fishing and put boaters at risk, he said.  “Is there a potential for offshore operations to affect military operations? The answer is yes,” he said.

Republican House leaders last spring launched a late-session proposal to lift a two-decade ban on oil and gas drilling in state waters. The issue is scheduled to be discussed again Thursday by the House Select Policy Council on Strategic & Economic Planning.

The military has largely been silent on the issue. McClintock said base commanders have been ordered to refer most questions to the Secretary of the Air Force. His statements came in response to a committee member’s questions.

Sen. Don Gaetz, R-Niceville, said McClintock’s remarks are still not enough to convince him to oppose offshore drilling. However, he said he will vote against offshore drilling when he is convinced it threatens the bases in his Panhandle district. “Our military officials are being more and more forthright,” Gaetz said.

Tallahassee lobbyist Frank Matthews, a chief drilling supporter, said military operations can be protected by exclusion zones.    “The entire coast is not a military training area,” he said.

The more lawmakers learn about the potential threats of offshore drilling, the less likely they are to approve it, said Audubon of Florida lobbyist Eric Draper.  “All of the claims that the industry made, about energy independence, that it’s safe, just aren’t turning out to be true,” he said.

Special thanks to Richard Charter , as ever, for alerting us to this.

http://www.csmonitor.com/CSM-Photo-Galleries/CSM-Galleries/Destructive-Oil-Spills/(photo)/2

Christian Science Monitor:  January 4, 2010 

Fourteen compelling images of oil spills around the world.

Special thanks to Richard Charter

Gulf of Mexico Offshore Oil Drilling

Special thanks to Richard Charter

Naples News
Michael Peltier: Drilling, gaming debate heats up chilly Capitol
TALLAHASSEE – Following a bitterly cold weekend – by Florida standards, that is – things will heat up considerably this week as lawmakers return to Tallahassee for the first of two committee weeks in January.

As lawmakers begin the 2010 push leading up to the Legislative session in March, committees this week will take separate looks at Seminole Indian gambling and the future of offshore oil drilling off Florida’s Gulf coast.

The two controversial issues are mixed in among scores of items – some important, some not-so-much – working their way through committees to prepare for possible passage later this spring.

The House Select Policy Council on Strategic & Economic Planning is scheduled to meet Thursday for a workshop on energy exploration, oil drilling technology and regulatory requirements for drilling as it related to offshore waters in the Gulf.

The Senate has thrown some cold water on the oil drilling issue. Senate President Jeff Atwater, R-North Palm Beach, has made it clear he’s not in any hurry to determine if it’s a good idea to lift a decades’ long moratorium on exploration and extraction of oil in the eastern Gulf.

Instead, Atwater (who is running for the statewide office of Chief Financial Officer in November) has asked for a “thorough review” by the Century Commission for a Sustainable Florida. The panel, however, said last week it won’t have its report completed until early March, which in only the rarest of cases is too late for lawmakers to address in a mere 60-day session that ends the first week in May.

Signs of such a timetable are evident. Florida Energy Associates, a coalition formed to promote drilling efforts, last week said it was reducing its lobbying ranks for the current session. The time, apparently, may not be ripe to justify the cost of a Dream Team lobby corps.

The House panel reviewing the Seminole gambling compact with the state is also not expected to come to closure anytime soon but will forge ahead this week. Led by Rep. Bill Galvano, R-Bradenton, the House Select Committee on Seminole Indian Compact Review meets Thursday to consider a proposed council bill dealing with Seminole Indian Compact ratification and another addressing non-Indian pari-mutuel permit holders.

The gambling deal has already stalled on a few occasions as lawmakers, the Seminole Tribe, the governor’s office and non-Indian pari-mutuel owners come to the table with dramatically different desires. Such differences have proven difficult to overcome as negotiators try to forge an agreement acceptable to all.

House Speaker Larry Cretul, R-Ocala, recently asked federal regulators to shut down banked card games at Seminole casinos including Immokalee after early revenue sharing agreements fell through. The tribe wants to expand to facilities statewide while House leaders favor a far more conservative expansion.

For his part, Gov. Charlie Crist just wants some kind of agreement that locks in revenue for the state.

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E-mail Michael Peltier at mpeltier1234@comcast.net.

Special thanks to Richard Charter

Opinion: DIRTY BUSINESS

Fran Gibson
January 10, 2010 6:54 AM
This is re: the recent column by Ron Meyer Jr. on the effect of offshore oil drilling on natural oil seeps. The author’s premise is that offshore drilling alleviates the pressure of natural oil seeps in the Santa Barbara coast region. We disagree.

The column says the amount of natural seepage is from 150 to 250 barrels per day off Coal Oil Point (over 5,000 barrels per year or 210,000 gallons) to 86,000 barrels per year in the Santa Barbara area; 86,000 barrels equates to 3.6 million gallons.

The 1969 Santa Barbara blowout was 200,000 gallons (what he contends is seeping daily from Coal Oil Point annualized) and the Exxon Valdez spill in Alaska was 10.8 million gallons. That means every three years, the natural seepage would be equal to an Exxon Valdez spill. If that were the case, the ocean all along our coast, not just Santa Barbara, would be one big gooey oil mess, our beaches would be black and unusable, and there would not be any living thing off our shores.

Could it be that the numbers are just more statistics the oil industry fabricates?

No one really knows how much oil is seeping naturally. The Interior Department’s MMS division is presently conducting a five-year study to look at offshore Southern California within the area between Point Arguello and Ventura to document the locations, determine a geochemical footprint to distinguish natural tar residues and to “measure the rate of natural seepage of individual seeps and attempt to access the regional natural oil and gas seepage rates.” We do not currently have this scientific information confirmed conclusively.

Mr. Meyer’s column claims that drilling will relieve the pressure and reduce the natural seeps. Another fabrication by the oil industry. There is not, to our knowledge, any scientific study to support this contention. The one study done on this was in 1999 and published in the Journal of Geophysical Research. One of the lead authors of the study, Bruce Luyendyk, said the group SOS (which is perpetrating the myth that drilling reduces natural oil seeps) is “extrapolating these results in ways that are not justified.”

Mr. Meyer’s column also says the single biggest source of air pollution is the natural seeps. But no one knows how much pollution actually seeps.

Each offshore oil platform — there are 24 — generates some 214,000 pounds of air pollutants each year (National Oceanographic & Atmospheric Administration). An average exploration well for oil or natural gas generates some 50 tons of nitrogen oxides (NOx), 13 tons of carbon monoxide, 6 tons of sulfur dioxide and 5 tons of volatile organic hydrocarbons. These pollutants are the precursors to smog, acid rain, and contribute to global warming.

Our guess is the single biggest producer of air pollution in this area are the ships that ply the Santa Barbara Channel, with cars or the oil platforms coming in second and third.

Offshore oil drilling will not reduce pollution; it will contribute to it.

Let’s face it: Drilling for oil is a dirty business from start to finish — from the sounds produced by seismic surveys to locate oil that deafens and kills fish and marine mammals, to the tons of waste discarded into the water from drilling operations.

Debris from offshore operations includes drill cuttings and drilling mud brought up during the drilling process. This mud contains toxic metals such as lead, cadmium and mercury. Other pollutants produced from a rig’s daily operations include benzene, arsenic and other known carcinogens.

 The author is president of the board of Coastwalk California.