Nelson says he supports Senate offshore drilling bill

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) -- July 28, 2006 -- U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson said Thursday that he will support a bill allowing offshore drilling closer to Florida's beaches after getting assurances no changes will be made in provisions still keeping the rigs 125 to 235 miles away.

The Florida Democrat, who has been an outspoken drilling opponent, said in a speech on the Senate floor that he had received promises from Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., and Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., that they would block any House-Senate compromise that would weaken those protections.

"Sen. Frist told me that he would do everything in his ability to keep it to the Senate version when the bill returns to the Senate," Nelson said. "Now that's a pretty good assurance for this senator to protect the interest of Florida."

It wasn't good enough, though, for some environmentalists who oppose both versions of the legislation. They support extending an existing drilling moratorium past its 2012 expiration date to protect beaches and coastal waters from spills and other drilling-related pollution.

"We are disappointed," Florida Public Interest Research Group director Mark Ferrulo said in a statement from his Tallahassee office. "The Senate's effort to give 8 million acres of Florida waters to the oil industry will do nothing to lower gas prices or address our nation's energy needs, but will pollute and despoil a pristine area of Florida's gulf."

The Senate bill, unlikely to come up for a vote before Monday, would prohibit drilling closer than 235 miles from Florida's west coast, a line designed to protect military testing and training in the Gulf of Mexico, and 125 miles from other shores. Those limits would be in effect through 2022 -- 10 years beyond the present moratorium.

The legislation would allow drilling in Lease Area 181 south of the Florida Panhandle, which is estimated to contain 1.3 billion barrels of oil and 5.8 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, enough to heat 6 million homes for 15 years.

The House bill would open even more offshore territory to drilling. It has a 50-mile no-drilling zone, but states could extend it to 100 miles or allow rigs as close as three miles from shore.

Nelson was afraid a joint conference committee would produce a compromise closer to the House version until he received the promises from Frist and Reid.

Frist sent him an e-mail Wednesday saying "I will not bring a bill back before the Senate that does not provide adequate protections to the State of Florida."

Reid wrote Nelson a letter promising to deliver the votes necessary to sustain a filibuster if the Senate bill is modified in conference committee.

Sen. Mel Martinez, R-Fla., negotiated the protections in the Senate bill and has said he, too, would oppose any attempts to weaken it.

"I would like to make it clear that this is not an opening for negotiation," Martinez said Wednesday on the Senate floor. "I am firmly committed to this deal. Anything else that subtracts from the protections for our state as laid out in this legislation is not enough for our state."

Even with Nelson's support, the bill may attract a filibuster from other coastal senators who are opposed to the idea of allowing drilling in areas where it now is prohibited. The moratorium covers 85 percent of the country's Outer Continental Shelf from New England to Alaska.

Higher fuel prices have persuaded many members of Congress to support opening those waters to drilling.

Opponents such as Ferrulo argue there's still not enough oil and gas off U.S. shores to have much affect on prices or reduce American dependence on foreign sources. They are pushing instead for conservation and alternative energy sources such as ethanol.