Source: Institution of Chemcial Engineers    Background An intense public debate is under way regarding the potential risks and rewards of offshore drilling in Florida's state waters. The questions, concerns, and arguments that have been expressed echo those associated with a longstanding political battle over offshore drilling in the Eastern Gulf of Mexico where federal moratoriums remain in place.

Source: National Geographic   Source: NASA

On March 31, President Obama announced his administration's plans to open vast expanses of water along the Atlantic coastline, the eastern Gulf of Mexico and the north coast of Alaska to oil and natural gas drilling, much of it for the first time. This decision has added to the statewide discussion across Florida and beyond about oil and gas drilling in the Gulf.

At the request of the Century Commission for a Sustainable Florida and Senate President Jeff Atwater, the Collins Center began researching the implications of offshore drilling in early 2010. The result was an extensive and objective report of the pros and cons that can be read or downloaded here. In addition, the Collins Center has created a section on its website devoted to public outreach and education around this important public policy issue where visitors can learn more and comment on the report and the issue.

Now, with the Deepwater Horizon blowout of an offshore oil rig on April 20 off the coast of Louisiana, the Collins Center continues to be a credible knowledge broker on this topic by accumulating news reports and offering commentary from Dr. Frank Alcock, a director of the Marine Policy Institute at Mote Marine Laboratory and one of the chief authors of the Collins Center's oil drilling report.

Key Links See photos, graphs and other evidence collected by the Deepwater Horizon Joint Investigation Web site. The Florida Association of Counties has a site dedicated to updating county officials on the BP spill. Deepwater Horizon Response is the official site of Deepwater Horizon Unified Command. Read up-to-date bulletins about emergencies at the Florida Department of Emergency Management site. Visit the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission site for information and links to other helpful sites. View the Department of Environmental Protection Deep Water Horizon Oil Spill website. Read the July 2010 report from Gov. Charlie Crist's Gulf Oil Spill Economic Recovery Task Force. Read a newspaper article about Dr. Frank Alcock and the Collins Center report on offshore oil drilling. Watch Dr. Ian McDonald, Florida State University oceanographer and contributor to the Collins Center report on offshore oil drilling, explain how independent scientists corrected low-ball BP and government measurements of the Gulf oil spill. Listen to a Voice of America radio interview of Dr. Frank Alcock, director of the Marine Policy Institute at Mote Marine Laboratory in Sarasota. Host John D. Schmidt talks with Dr. Alcock about the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. Read the Blog post about the Deepwater blowout and its potential impact on the current debate in Florida by by Collins Center Fellow Dr. Frank Alcock, who is a co-author of the Center's oil drilling report. Visit the joint web site from USCG, NOAA, DHS, DOI, BP, and TransOcean: Gulf of Mexico - Transocean Drilling Incident with daily updates on the spill and cleanup. Follow developments and view information and data at the University of South Florida's Gulf Oil Spill Information Center.  Volunteer to help.  Read an article about a series of seemingly reckless decisions in the lead-up to the Deepwater accident, published in The New York Times, based on documents obtained from BP internal investigations and Congressional inquiries. Read and research an extensive list of articles and editorials about offshore oil drilling in the Gulf of Mexico and the recent Deepwater Horizon explosion and spill. Watch computer modeling of the spill and its expected future drift from the Ocean Circular Group at the University of South Florida College of Marine Science. View interactive map tracking the spill for the past week. View NOAA computer modeling.    Florida's universities' Academic Oil Spill Task Force Take a moment and complete a brief survey about offshore oil drilling in the Gulf of Mexico. Visit our "Exploring the Gulf for Energy Options” section on our web site. Read or download the February 2010 report: "Potential impacts of oil and gas exploration in the Gulf” A quick take: View a single, searchable Q&A list of all 31 report questions.

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