U.S. House Drops Gulf Drilling Plan
Ledger Staff & Wire Reports
Published: Thursday, November 10, 2005 at 6:01 a.m.
* Senate Blocks Oil Drilling Proposal
LAKELAND -- A proposal to allow oil and gas drilling within 125 miles of the Florida Gulf Coast died in the U.S. House late Wednesday night, a victim of the budget-cutting battle raging there.
Republican House leaders abandoned an attempt to push through a hotly contested plan to open an Alaskan wildlife refuge to oil drilling.
They feared that the controversy over drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge would jeopardize today's approval of a sweeping $54 billion budget-cutting bill.
GOP leaders, led by House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., also agreed to drop a plan to open a contested tract off the Florida Gulf Coast to oil drilling and allow states to waive a 24-year ban on drilling along the Atlantic and Pacific coasts. Several Florida Republicans opposed the plan.
Supporters of drilling in the eastern Gulf had only a 14-vote margin, and any change in the provision would have unraveled that majority, a congressional staff member said earlier Wednesday. "If ANWR goes (is removed), at least four members of the Florida delegation (including Rep. Ginny Brown-Waite), who support the current provision, will leave and others in other states could likely follow," the staffer said.
Twenty-five Republicans, led by Rep. Charles Bass of New Hampshire, signed a letter asking GOP leaders to strike the Alaskan drilling provision from the broader $54 billion budget cut bill.
"Rather then reversing decades of protection for this publicly held land, focusing greater attention on renewable energy sources, alternate fuels, and more efficient systems and appliances would yield more net energy savings than could come from ANWR and would have a higher benefit on the nation's long-term economic leadership and security," they said.
The moderates knew they had leverage, given the narrow margin of GOP control of the House. It only takes 14 Republican defections to scuttle a bill, assuming every Democrat opposes it.
The actions were a stunning setback for those who have tried for years to open a coastal strip of ANWR to oil development, and a victory for environmentalists who have lobbied hard against the drilling provisions.
President Bush has made drilling in the Alaska refuge one of his top energy priorities.
The House Rules Committee formalized the death of the ANWR provision late Wednesday when it issued the terms of the debate when the House takes up the budget package today.
Last week, the Senate included ANWR drilling in its version of the budget, so the matter will have to be thrashed out in negotiations between the Senate and House, if the budget is approved by the House.
Removing the Arctic oil drilling provision could incite a backlash from lawmakers who strongly favor it, which is a big majority of Republicans. House and Senate GOP leaders are likely to push hard to get the ANWR proposal back into the bill in negotiations on a final document.
Marnie Funk, a spokeswoman for Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M., said that Domenici considers the ANWR provision, which the Senate approved, "one of the most critical components" in the budget package.
"He is committed to coming back to the Senate from the conference with ANWR intact," she said.
The Gulf provision had split Florida's congressional delegation, including Polk-area members of Congress.
While Rep. Adam Putnam supported the provision, BrownWaite said she would support expanded Gulf drilling only if ANWAR stayed in. And Rep. Katherine Harris has opposed any expansion at all.
The moratorium on drilling in the eastern Gulf keeps oil companies 250 to 300 miles off the state's Gulf coast.
But the new provision would have allowed drilling closer to Florida's shores. With state legislative support, it could have reached as close as 125 miles.
Putnam, a Bartow Republican, voted for the new drilling rules in the House Budget Committee last week. It was included in a budget measure known as the Deficit Reduction Bill.
Putnam has said the stability of Gulf drilling rigs during hurricanes Katrina and Rita this year and the world oil shortage had created a more favorable outlook for oil exploration.
Fellow Republican BrownWaite, recovering at her Crystal River home from surgery to reset broken toes, said Tuesday that "I would prefer to leave it the way it is, but I don't believe the way the world is today that it can be done."
"But I can't support it if ANWR is taken out and the Gulf left in," she said.
Harris, a Republican whose district includes coastal Sarasota County and who grew up in Bartow, had been working Wednesday to remove the drilling provisions from the budget.
In the Senate, both of Florida's senators, Republican Mel Martinez and Democrat Bill Nelson, oppose the Gulf drilling issue.
Nelson is attempting to get the eastern Gulf declared a military training zone because of the high activity of ships and aircraft in the area daily.
Called a Mission Management Line, the designation would keep oil companies from drilling east of the line and basically restrict drilling to 220 to 250 miles off the coast.
But there has been no action on his request from the military or the Senate Armed Services Committee.
Ledger Political Editor Bill Rufty contributed to this article. He can be reached at bill.rufty@theledger.com or 863802-7523. Material from The Associated Press and Washington Post was used in this article.
Ledger Staff & Wire Reports
Published: Thursday, November 10, 2005 at 6:01 a.m.
* Senate Blocks Oil Drilling Proposal
LAKELAND -- A proposal to allow oil and gas drilling within 125 miles of the Florida Gulf Coast died in the U.S. House late Wednesday night, a victim of the budget-cutting battle raging there.
Republican House leaders abandoned an attempt to push through a hotly contested plan to open an Alaskan wildlife refuge to oil drilling.
They feared that the controversy over drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge would jeopardize today's approval of a sweeping $54 billion budget-cutting bill.
GOP leaders, led by House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., also agreed to drop a plan to open a contested tract off the Florida Gulf Coast to oil drilling and allow states to waive a 24-year ban on drilling along the Atlantic and Pacific coasts. Several Florida Republicans opposed the plan.
Supporters of drilling in the eastern Gulf had only a 14-vote margin, and any change in the provision would have unraveled that majority, a congressional staff member said earlier Wednesday. "If ANWR goes (is removed), at least four members of the Florida delegation (including Rep. Ginny Brown-Waite), who support the current provision, will leave and others in other states could likely follow," the staffer said.
Twenty-five Republicans, led by Rep. Charles Bass of New Hampshire, signed a letter asking GOP leaders to strike the Alaskan drilling provision from the broader $54 billion budget cut bill.
"Rather then reversing decades of protection for this publicly held land, focusing greater attention on renewable energy sources, alternate fuels, and more efficient systems and appliances would yield more net energy savings than could come from ANWR and would have a higher benefit on the nation's long-term economic leadership and security," they said.
The moderates knew they had leverage, given the narrow margin of GOP control of the House. It only takes 14 Republican defections to scuttle a bill, assuming every Democrat opposes it.
The actions were a stunning setback for those who have tried for years to open a coastal strip of ANWR to oil development, and a victory for environmentalists who have lobbied hard against the drilling provisions.
President Bush has made drilling in the Alaska refuge one of his top energy priorities.
The House Rules Committee formalized the death of the ANWR provision late Wednesday when it issued the terms of the debate when the House takes up the budget package today.
Last week, the Senate included ANWR drilling in its version of the budget, so the matter will have to be thrashed out in negotiations between the Senate and House, if the budget is approved by the House.
Removing the Arctic oil drilling provision could incite a backlash from lawmakers who strongly favor it, which is a big majority of Republicans. House and Senate GOP leaders are likely to push hard to get the ANWR proposal back into the bill in negotiations on a final document.
Marnie Funk, a spokeswoman for Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M., said that Domenici considers the ANWR provision, which the Senate approved, "one of the most critical components" in the budget package.
"He is committed to coming back to the Senate from the conference with ANWR intact," she said.
The Gulf provision had split Florida's congressional delegation, including Polk-area members of Congress.
While Rep. Adam Putnam supported the provision, BrownWaite said she would support expanded Gulf drilling only if ANWAR stayed in. And Rep. Katherine Harris has opposed any expansion at all.
The moratorium on drilling in the eastern Gulf keeps oil companies 250 to 300 miles off the state's Gulf coast.
But the new provision would have allowed drilling closer to Florida's shores. With state legislative support, it could have reached as close as 125 miles.
Putnam, a Bartow Republican, voted for the new drilling rules in the House Budget Committee last week. It was included in a budget measure known as the Deficit Reduction Bill.
Putnam has said the stability of Gulf drilling rigs during hurricanes Katrina and Rita this year and the world oil shortage had created a more favorable outlook for oil exploration.
Fellow Republican BrownWaite, recovering at her Crystal River home from surgery to reset broken toes, said Tuesday that "I would prefer to leave it the way it is, but I don't believe the way the world is today that it can be done."
"But I can't support it if ANWR is taken out and the Gulf left in," she said.
Harris, a Republican whose district includes coastal Sarasota County and who grew up in Bartow, had been working Wednesday to remove the drilling provisions from the budget.
In the Senate, both of Florida's senators, Republican Mel Martinez and Democrat Bill Nelson, oppose the Gulf drilling issue.
Nelson is attempting to get the eastern Gulf declared a military training zone because of the high activity of ships and aircraft in the area daily.
Called a Mission Management Line, the designation would keep oil companies from drilling east of the line and basically restrict drilling to 220 to 250 miles off the coast.
But there has been no action on his request from the military or the Senate Armed Services Committee.
Ledger Political Editor Bill Rufty contributed to this article. He can be reached at bill.rufty@theledger.com or 863802-7523. Material from The Associated Press and Washington Post was used in this article.
