Tampa Tribune, 10/5/2009

A taxpayer-funded think tank is planning a state summit on offshore oil drilling to provide "answers without the emotion" that has dominated the debate.

State lawmakers, meanwhile, are jumping back into the issue with a meeting on offshore oil drilling scheduled this week.

Today, the Century Commission for a Sustainable Florida will discuss how and when it will hold a conference of scientific, government and industry experts to investigate the implications of lifting the state ban on drilling off Florida's Gulf Coast.

 

"What I really want to do is get all the answers - as much information as we can," said Sen. Mike Bennett, R-Bradenton, a member of the commission and a skeptic on oil drilling. "One of the problems we've got is there's a lot of emotion in this particular issue. I want to get some answers without the emotion."

The drilling debate reignited abruptly near the end of last spring's legislative session when House Speaker-designate Dean Cannon, R-Winter Park, proposed lifting the state's offshore drilling ban. Cannon filed his proposal as a bill amendment which did not receive the benefit of staff analysis.

That angered environmentalists, who were caught off-guard by the plan's sudden appearance in committee, dominated by testimony from oil industry lobbyists.

The proponents said drilling could produce as much as $2.3 billion annually in oil and gas revenues for the state. The House voted overwhelmingly to lift the ban, but the bill stalled in the Senate, where leaders said they needed more time. Cannon is planning to file a revised version for the 2010 session, as is Mike Haridopolos, R-Melbourne, who is next in line to become Senate president.

Haridopolos, chairman of the Senate's Policy and Steering Committee on Energy, Environment, and Land Use, said his chamber is likely to start holding hearings on drilling in November. House Democrats are jumping into the issue earlier, with a caucus meeting scheduled Tuesday, when both supporters and opponents will field questions from members.

That's fine, said Colleen Castille, former state Department of Environmental Protection secretary, but the Century Commission is best positioned to provide the data that lawmakers need to make an informed decision.
The Legislature created the Century Commission in 2005 as an advisory body charged with helping citizens and policymakers "envision and plan their collective future with an eye towards both 25-year and 50-year horizons." Growth management, energy and the environment have been the group's main focuses, based on predictions that the state's population will more than double in the next 100 years.

The governor and Legislature appoint the commission's 15 members, who hail from across the state and include government and industry leaders, as well as environmentalists.

The group receives a sliver of Florida's real estate tax revenue, which this year amounted to less than $7,000 because of budget pressures on the state. The group has turned to a privately funded think tank, the Collins Center for Public Policy, for additional support.

Castille, who served as DEP secretary under former Gov. Jeb Bush and testified about oil drilling before Congress in 2006, now consults on business and environmental issues. She has no direct ties to the Century Commission but has publicly called for it to get involved in the drilling debate.

"There have been no facts presented yet," she said. "We need to take the politics out of it."
Commission director Tim Center said the planned conference will likely span a wide range of complex issues, such as:
-how drilling will affect military operations along the Panhandle
-potential effects to marine mammals from the use of sonar to explore the ocean bottom for fuel sources
-the latest technological developments in oil and gas exploration, and their safety
-consequences for recreational fishing
-economic and environmental impact for coastal communities

"We really feel this is the No. 1 place that policyholders and others can turn for this kind of information - even though we're probably putting ourselves in harm's way," said Center, clearly cognizant of the political stakes of the drilling debate. "We know we're putting ourselves out there for a lot of slings and arrows."

Eric Draper, lobbyist for the Audubon of Florida, said the commission's input would be useful but that it needs to broaden its focus. "We have a tourism- and housing-based economy along the coast now. Do we diminish that it in order to have an energy-extraction economy? That's the real question."

Draper said he hopes the group will also consider seriously the prospects for alternative energy sources, such as solar and biofuel. "Otherwise you've already prejudiced the outcome of the discussion."

Friday, Cannon and Haridopolos both said they welcomed the commission's input - though Haridopolos added that lawmakers aren't necessarily going to put anything on hold while the commission undertakes its project.
Cannon said he is committed to giving the issue a thorough vetting before he files his next drilling bill.

"It's a major issue and deserves an intellectual debate based on thoughtful analysis - not based on rhetoric," he said.