As Governor Crist takes the stage to speak at the Florida Society of Newspaper Editors/Florida Press Association annual convention, we wanted to give everyone a quick reminder that two years ago today, Governor Crist announced his support for John McCain's proposal to drill off Florida beaches.
The Wall Street Journal described the Governor's switch this way (http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121372245926581441.html):
"Mr. Crist's change in position was interpreted by some Democrats as a move to boost his chances of being tapped as Sen. McCain's running mate. But it represents a major symbolic victory for the oil industry and its allies in Congress in their efforts to overturn the ban on drilling."
Even in December 2009, Gov. Crist supported drilling 5 miles off Florida's beaches when he endorsed State Rep. Dean Cannon's dangerous proposal in an interview with the Orlando Sentinel (http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/2009-12-19/news/0912180119_1_mr-crist-renewable-energy-cap-and-trade):
"The "legislation Dean Cannon has been a real champion of is something I support."
The two articles are pasted below.
WSJ: Governor Backs Florida Drilling
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1213722459... JUNE 18, 2008
President Bush, Florida's governor and Republican presidential candidate John McCain are calling to lift a federal ban on offshore oil drilling, showing how voter anger over soaring gasoline prices is pushing politicians to rethink U.S. energy policy.
Surging oil prices, coinciding with an economic slump and November's looming U.S. elections, are forcing a renewed conflict between environmental concerns over possible oil spills and a drive to funnel more oil toward the market. Meanwhile, Congress also is debating whether to wade into energy markets by imposing more controls on speculative trading of oil and slapping a windfall profits tax on oil companies to pay for alternative energy development.
The White House said that the president will call on Congress to allow "environmentally friendly offshore oil drilling." That came hours after Florida Gov. Charlie Crist reversed his longstanding opposition to drilling off the shores of his state, which in turn came after Sen. McCain -- widely seen as considering Gov. Crist as a potential vice-presidential candidate -- issued his call.
Until Tuesday, Gov. Crist had been one of the highest profile opponents of drilling off his state's shores, fearing such activity could spoil his state's beaches and drive away tourists. Sen. McCain also once opposed offshore exploration but has shifted his position.
Their switch sets up a battle with environmentalists, as well as with Democratic leaders, most of whom remain opposed to overturning the ban. Sen. Barack Obama, the Democratic presidential contender, accused Sen. McCain of proposing a policy that would do little to affect gas prices in the short term. "It's another example of, I think, when John McCain has taken the politically expedient way out," Sen. Obama said.
Sen. McCain and Gov. Crist both said they would like to see the federal ban lifted and replaced with federal rules that let individual states decide whether to allow drilling off their coasts. Gov. Crist suggested that, if given this power, the Florida legislature should consider allowing the drilling. The White House said Mr. Bush wants to work with states to decide where the drilling would occur and to share the revenues with them. He is not yet lifting an executive order that stands in the way of the offshore exploration, said a White House spokesman; rather he is calling for the Democrat-led Congress to act first.
In a speech in Houston, Sen. McCain said the federal moratorium "stands in the way of energy exploration and production," and that lifting it was needed to help end U.S. reliance on oil. In the first of a series of planned energy speeches, he attempted a careful political balance.
He has sought to portray himself as an environmentalist, opposing drilling in Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and saying urgent action is needed to control carbon emissions and halt global warming. Striking a populist tone, he joined many Democrats in blaming oil traders and financial markets for pushing up prices. "When you have enough speculators betting on the rising price of oil, that itself can cause oil prices to keep on rising," he said. But he also supports additional domestic drilling and more refineries, as well as federal support for nuclear power.
While he and Sen. Obama agree on some aspects of energy policy -- including opposing drilling in ANWR -- they part company elsewhere. Given gasoline prices, both candidates perceive an advantage on the issue and will likely press it through the fall.
Carol Browner, who headed the Environmental Protection Agency under President Clinton, said, "What McCain's drilling plan would do is threaten our coasts and the millions of jobs that depend on clean beaches and water."
Limits on Trading
Separately, in Washington, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission said Europe's leading energy exchange, the IntercontinentalExchange Inc.'s ICE Futures Europe exchange, has agreed for the first time to put limits on the trading of certain crude-oil contracts -- effectively matching the trading limits in effect on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The ICE also agreed to share more data about trading on its exchange. The agreement is one of several moves the CFTC is considering under pressure from Congress to take stronger steps to corral speculation in energy markets.
"We're definitely taking constructive steps to make sure the markets are working correctly, to make sure there is not excessive speculation driving the markets," CFTC Acting Chairman Walter Lukken told a Senate hearing Tuesday. "We have not found a smoking gun." The CFTC is mulling greater controls on institutional investors such as pension funds, as well as some individual investors, that invest in a basket of commodity futures meant to track underlying commodity prices.
As a practical matter, Gov. Crist's stance carries no legal weight, since state control over offshore waters generally extends for only three miles beyond the coast. The areas covered by the ban -- extending from the three-mile point to as far out as 200 miles -- are controlled by the federal government.
But traditionally, presidents and Congress have given significant weight to the views of governors and state legislatures on the matter. A major reason the government allows drilling off the coasts of Louisiana and Texas is that support for drilling near those states' coasts is strong among elected officials there.
Mr. Crist's change in position was interpreted by some Democrats as a move to boost his chances of being tapped as Sen. McCain's running mate. But it represents a major symbolic victory for the oil industry and its allies in Congress in their efforts to overturn the ban on drilling.
On Wednesday, a House committee is expected to vote on a measure that would repeal the 26-year-old congressional moratorium, which currently covers virtually all of the Atlantic and Pacific coasts as well as the Eastern Gulf of Mexico.
Altogether, there are an estimated 17.8 billion barrels of oil in offshore areas that are closed to drilling, equivalent to about 10 years' worth of U.S. production at current rates, and approximately 76 trillion cubic feet of natural gas (a little less than four years' supply at current consumption levels), based on federal data. But efforts to get at the petroleum have been blocked for years by opposition from Florida and California elected officials, which fear their beaches will be spoiled by drilling.
"We've got a crack in the dike," said Rep. John Peterson, a Pennsylvania Republican who has been leading efforts in Congress to overturn the ban. "It's huge."
While disputes over drilling are nothing new in Washington, voter anger over high gasoline prices is giving the oil industry a new chance to make its case for greater access to domestic petroleum. A recent Gallup poll shows 57% of Americans support opening up new territories to drilling, while a Wall Street Journal-NBC News poll conducted this month shows 59% of Americans say Congress should take the lead on responding to high gas prices. In describing his change of heart, Gov. Crist alluded to those pressures.
In a written statement in response to questions from The Wall Street Journal, Mr. Crist said it has become "clear that we must be pragmatic in protecting both our beaches and our economy." He added, "We look forward to the dialogue as we move forward to protect both our environment and our country's economic interests."
The oil and gas industry has long eyed the waters off the coast of western Florida and California, hoping for an opening to explore for energy there. But the industry has been prevented from even doing basic predrilling exploration for years, as a result of a 1982 congressional moratorium and a presidential executive order, set during the administration of former President George H.W. Bush, that forbids the government from leasing the waters to oil companies.
The federal offshore-drilling bans stem from an era when the industry didn't know how to drill in waters far from the coastline and had a worse record for spills. Today, the industry routinely drills in waters that are thousands of feet deep and distant from the shore.
Orlando Sentinel: A worsening climate
Political pressures on Crist place the environment at risk.
http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/2009-1... DECEMBER 19, 2009
Florida's ban on offshore drilling may be history. So too its claim to being in the forefront of states on clean energy. We're convinced of that because of what Gov. Charlie Crist said.
This week. In his interview with us. Which you can access at
www.OrlandoSentinel.com/opinion. In one breath Mr. Crist said he's "open-minded" about drilling off the coast "so long as I can be convinced it can be done safely." Then, poof, he became convinced. The "legislation Dean Cannon has been a real champion of is something I support," he said.State Rep. Cannon, a Winter Park Republican, is proposing to allow rigs five miles offshore, leaving it to the Cabinet to say when.
Mr. Crist then went on to say things have changed since he pushed a cap-and-trade system, or market-based approach, for reducing the state's carbon footprint. The system Congress is debating "creates too much of a taxation issue on business," he said. Hence, the cap-and-trade system he pushed the Legislature to accept in 2008 no longer can count him a supporter.
With the economy in its current state, he said, cap-and-trade systems meant to give businesses flexibility in meeting greenhouse-gas standards actually can be a burden to business. It's therefore "pragmatic" for him to view it differently. "I didn't have a climate-change summit this year for the same reason," he said.
For Mr. Crist, politics is trumping reason.
He got it right earlier in his administration, saying there's gold in green as he pushed his climate-sensitive energy initiatives. He blocked the construction of new coal-fired power plants; set a target for renewable energy; and promoted solar energy, something he did again in his meeting with us. Florida was last in the nation in solar-energy generationwhen he became governor, he said. Now, he claimed, it's second.
But a market-based approach modeled on cap-and --trade? Bad for business, he says, though General Electric, Johnson & Johnson, United Technologies and other industrial heavyweights think it's good.
The governor's also not expected to get the Legislature to approve the targets he wanted for renewable energy. Which 28 other states have done. And which are so important if the state's to grow its market for cleantech businesses. The Legislature's next leaders, Mr. Cannon and GOP Sen. Mike Haridopolos of Indialantic, want nothing to do with targets.
Posted By: Kendrick Meek
Thursday, June 17th 2010 at 4:45PM
You can also
click
here to view all posts by this author...
