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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 21, 2006
Contact: Diane Pratt-Heavner
(202) 226-7797

    

Florida’s Shores at Risk

House Committee passes bill allowing drilling as close as 50 miles from shore.

 

WASHINGTON, DC – Today, Congressman Jim Davis called on his Florida colleagues to unite in opposition to legislation that could place offshore drilling rigs as close as 50 miles from Florida’s shores.  The bill, which passed the House Resources Committee this afternoon and could reach the House floor next week, is the product of a backroom deal announced this weekend by Chairman Richard Pombo (R-CA).

 

Currently, energy companies are prohibited from drilling 300 miles from Tampa Bay.  Under this bill, energy companies could drill as close as 50 miles from Tampa, unless the Florida Legislature passed a bill to block drilling closer than 100 miles from shore.  The legislature must act within one year to block gas drilling and three years to block oil drilling.

 

Furthermore, the bill states that if the Legislature chooses to pass a constitutional amendment to ban drilling off our shores, our state will automatically lose its right to petition to block drilling between 50 and 100 miles.

 

“Chairman Pombo’s bill stacks the deck in favor of the energy companies and offers little protection to the countless Floridians whose livelihoods depend on our pristine beaches,” said Congressman Davis.  “Even if the Florida Legislature is able to jump through the hoops required to ban drilling up to 100 miles off our coasts, experts on ocean currents have testified to the risks posed by drilling operations that close to our shores.  One spill could devastate Florida’s tourist based economy.  Florida’s Congressional Delegation must unite in opposition to this attack on Florida’s beaches.”

 

   


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