Florida Association of Convention and Visitors Bureaus endorses off-shore oil drilling – with conditions
Published November 30th, 2008
By John Johnston
MANAGING EDITOR
Economic downturn?
You wouldn’t know it looking at shopping at
BocaTownCenter
mall and the Parkland Malls recently.
Dire prognostications aside, Boca Raton and Delray
Beach nonetheless join the county’s 36 other municipalities
in a collective hope for better economic times.
And the county itself hopes Florida lives up to its name of the SunshineState
– which is why an announcement Tuesday by the Florida Association of Convention
and Visitors Bureaus (FACVB) was more than a little surprising.
In a parallel akin to the American Heart
Association now endorsing cholesterol, the FACFB said it “endorses state and
federal energy policies allowing the production of oil from existing leases
within the Gulf of Mexico out of sight of Florida’s coast (at least 30 miles offshore).”
The position statement goes on to live five
conditions that would have to be imposed by state and federal legislators for
the FACFB endorsement to remain in place.
None of which impressed Palm Beach County
Economic Development Director Kevin Johns. Johns told the Boca Raton News he
was “stunned” by the decision.
“Tourism is an unbelievably important part
of our overall strategy,” Johns said, “and I think we should focus instead on
developing alternative energy resources, rather than our addiction to oil
continuing to threaten America’s
security and economy.”
“Florida’s beaches are our most precious
natural resource, and their vitality is essential to the health of our state’s
tourism industry and our state’s economy.” said FACVB Executive Director Robert
Skrob, “After considering the environmental impacts and risks associated with
offshore oil drilling as well as the importance of energy resources to
Florida’s tourism industry, with today’s technology, our government should
permit oil production within existing leases out of sight, beyond the horizon
as part of a comprehensive strategy for the United States to achieve energy
independence.”
The conditions FACVB imposeD upon its
endorsement are:
Any Florida
offshore drilling must be a component of a comprehensive energy policy
dedicated to reducing America’s
dependence on foreign oil.
Production facilities must incorporate the
most advanced zero discharge natural gas and oil production systems.
The federal revenue sharing plan affecting
Gulf of Mexico resources, which currently does not include revenue sharing to
Florida, must be changed by the U.S. Congress to include significant revenue
dedicated to the state.
A five-year moratorium on new leases in the
eastern Gulf of Mexico must be established so state officials can evaluate oil
production safety and evaluate any impact on Florida’s natural resources. This moratorium
should permit exploration by seismic and geophysical scientific testing to
identify potential future reserves.
The military mission of the U.S. Department
of Defense shall have the first priority in the offshore in the Gulf of Mexico.
