Florida Tourist Group Endorses Drilling 30 Miles Offshore
Tuesday November 25th, 2008 / 22h09
By Ian Talley Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES WASHINGTON -(Dow Jones)- An influential Florida tourism group is now endorsing oil and gas drilling at least 30 miles off its shore, an about-face for the tourist industry and a harbinger of the controversial policy Congress will likely debate in the new year. Florida tourist groups had been vehemently opposed to drilling off their shores, but the Association of Convention and Visitors Bureaus now says it's essential for the state's economy. "Changes in global energy markets have affected the price and supply of oil and natural gas and subsequently may have a future impact on Florida's tourism industry," the association said in a three-page policy statement. The group said a comprehensive, long-term energy policy, including "increased U.S. domestic oil and natural gas production, is essential to maintain a healthy, vital Florida tourism industry." Tourism is one of the biggest money-earners for the Sunshine State's gross domestic product, pitching in around $66 billion in 2007. The association made the endorsement based on a number of caveats, including zero discharge of certain drilling fluids and that the federal government would share royalty and lease revenue with the state. Oil companies are expecting "dark days ahead," according to the American Petroleum Institute, under an incoming Administration that wants to move the country away from traditional fossil-fuel production to more renewable and clean energy sources. Although the moratorium banning new exploration and production on the Outer Continental Shelf expired at the end of September, the new Administration is likely to have a much more restrictive hand than the existing one on lease-sale activity. "This battle is not over," Sen. Dianne Feinstein, a Democrat from California, one of the states that has fought the hardest against new exploration off its coast, said after the ban expired at the end of September. "We will come back and fight another day - that's for sure," she said. With oil prices falling to more than half levels seen in July, there will likely be less political opposition to a new ban. Some Capitol Hill watchers say the moratorium is likely to cover 50 miles off the coast and won't include revenue-sharing for the states, a provision that could poison support from lawmakers such as Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla. The oil industry says that for oil companies to tap domestic production quickly, however, it needs access closer to the shore, and sharing the wealth is necessary to get state approval for exploration off their coasts. The industry is proposing a 13-mile no-drill zone, which would place rigs and other operation equipment out of the line of sight from the shore. Some firms say production off the coast of Florida would come within two years of lease sales if a ban is lifted. Virginia is another state that has lost its historic zeal to keep its coasts free of fossil-fuel production. Lawmakers from the state are now excited about the prospect the government may get a major share of revenues from natural gas deposits off its coast if Congress allows the Interior Department to move ahead with a planned lease sale there. The Florida tourist association said the five-year growth-trend statistics showed a flattening between 2005 and 2007, when energy prices started to see a major ramp-up toward the 2008 record oil price above $148 a barrel. Visitor and revenue growth expanded only 0.8% in 2007, while visitors arriving by car fell 2.3% in the same year. -By Ian Talley, Dow Jones Newswire, 202-862-9285; ian.talley@dowjones.com Click here to go to Dow Jones NewsPlus, a web front page of today's most important business and market news, analysis and commentary: http://www.djnewsplus.com/al?rnd=VNf1o8oJFnifzxvjBbgEew%3D%3D. You can use this link on the day this article is published and the following day.
Les Bourses européennes ont clôturé en ordre dispersé vendredi mais sur une note globalement négative pour la troisième séance d'affilée, dans des échanges peu animés en l'absence...
Wall Street a clôturé en forte baisse jeudi, après la publication de chiffres de l'emploi pires que prévu et qui font douter du scénario d'une reprise rapide. La clôture a été...
La Bourse de Tokyo a fini en baisse de 0,61% vendredi, au lendemain de chiffres de l'emploi américain venus raviver les inquiétudes des investisseurs quant à l'état de l'économie...
Un consortium emmené par le britannique BP et comprenant le chinois CNPC a remporté le contrat d'exploitation du plus important champ pétrolifère d'Irak, a annoncé le ministre...
