Members of the Florida congressional delegation clashed Wednesday as the U.S. House of Representatives started kicking over three bills that emerged last week out of the Committee on Natural Resources. All three focused on energy.
Republicans who control the House are advancing the bills --which would expand offshore energy production --and they insist that this will lead to relief for Americans plagued by high gas prices. The House leadership has dubbed the three collectively "the American Energy Initiative."
Since last year, American domestic oil production has decreased by 16 percent and gas prices are at upward of $4 per gallon, said Florida Republican Congressman David Rivera, a member of the Natural Resources Committee. Consumers see the effects of rising fuel costs in their daily lives, and my constituents are being squeezed by these rising prices. The Obama administration does not seem to have a coherent plan to expand supplies and help ease price pressure, but House Republicans do.
Last week in committee, Rivera helped advance the bills. One of the measures would force the Interior Department to start holding oil lease sales off the coast of Virginia and in the Gulf of Mexico. Another would end the freeze of offshore drilling in the Gulf backed by the Obama administration after the Deepwater Horizon accident. The third would expand offshore drilling in other parts of the country.
The American Energy Initiatives being presented by House Republicans aim to increase American energy production so that we can decrease our dependence on oil from an increasingly unstable Middle East, said Rivera. We have to expand domestic energy production, not only through additional oil drilling, but also by implementing clean, safe and renewable energy alternatives, putting Americas domestic supplies and technologies to good use. I am committed to the development of clean, renewable energy resources to reduce our reliance on carbon-emitting fossil fuels. Our economic competitiveness, our environmental health and our national security are dependent on this.
In the short term, however, alternative fuels cannot eliminate the need for oil and natural gas, continued Rivera. The American Energy Initiative bills are crucial first steps to begin the job of expanding domestic energy sources. The growth of domestic energy is good for the American economy. It will mean that American families will pay less for everything from gasoline to food. These bills could create an estimated 250,000 jobs in the short-term, and more than 1.2 million jobs in the long-term -- and lead to revenue growth that will help reduce the debt and deficit.
Democrats fired back with their own proposals -- including an amendment from Florida Democratic U.S. Rep. Corrine Brown which would put a permanent ban on offshore drilling in the eastern Gulf, off the shore of Florida.
The amendment would not have any effect on the budget as scored by the Congressional Budget Office, noted Brown. However, it would have a significant impact on the economy of Florida, given that the states tourism industry will be protected from future oil spills, with their devastating capacity to destroy our beautiful beaches and coastal areas. Certainly, Floridas coastline is a treasure not just for Floridians, but for all Americans and people throughout the world. For years, the Florida delegation has worked together to protect our coastline and natural resources, and as long as there are rigs in the area, the potential for devastation to Floridas beaches persists.
If an accident were to occur, causing oil to wash ashore onto Florida's beaches, both the environmental and economic damage would be devastating to the state, insisted Brown. And in the aftermath of the catastrophe off of Louisianas Gulf Coast last year, we saw a glimpse of the potential that an oil spill could have on Floridas economy. That said, before any new areas are opened and Florida's pristine beaches are put at risk, I would like to see drilling in the areas that are already opened and increased funding for research for new technologies.
I strongly believe that any drilling off of Floridas Gulf Coast would be extremely detrimental to the states economy and ecosystem, concluded Brown. As was clearly demonstrated by the oil rig explosion in the Gulf of Mexico just last year, wherein 11 workers died and an estimated 5 million barrels of crude oil poured into the Gulf of Mexico, the risks of drilling for oil off of Floridas shores bring about extraordinary risk to our state. In an already depressed economy, and with unemployment in the state of Florida still hovering above 11 percent, the last thing we need to do is endanger nearly 1 million tourism-related jobs and the $60 billion tourism industry in the Sunshine State."
Reach Kevin Derby at kderby@sunshinestatenews.com or at (850) 727-0859.
