The governors office helped plug a bill that could have sped up the oil exploration-to-drilling process on certain state-owned lands.
Sen. Charlie Dean, R-Inverness, chairman of the Environmental Preservation Committee, postponed the Senate version of the bill, SB 1158, on Tuesday.
The bill would authorize state land-management agencies to enter public-private partnerships on state-owned lands with the private company that explored for oil if the yield can produce near-term revenue for the state.
Currently, the state requires companies to bid on such projects, which could result in the firm that spent money on the exploration being left out by a competitor with a better offer.
Dean said his decision was in part due to discussion he had with members of the governors office, where concerns were expressed over the impact on the environment through the lease agreements between the state and oil companies.
And with his committee not scheduled to meet again with less than three weeks remaining in the regular session, even Dean gave little chance for the bill to advance this year.
If they get something settled, fine, but until those issues are clearly settled, I dont think its feasible at this time, Dean said.We have too many loose ends.
Dean added that he didnt expect his committee would have approved the bill, and that he wouldnt vote for it in its current form, if it were put before a full Senate vote.
The governors office responded to questions with a simple message that the bill could create interagency confusion by expanding the approval from the state Department of Environmental Protection to multiple offices.
The governors office is concerned that some provisions in the bill would create a duplicative process to handle issues like these, spokeswoman Jackie Schultz stated in an email.
Still, Rep. Clay Ford, who has been advancing the House version of the drilling effort, intends to continue moving forward with the bill, HB 695, scheduled to appear before the House State Affairs Committee on Wednesday.
Ford said he has talked with Gov. Rick Scott and is trying to address his concerns.
There is a lot of misinformation about the bill, Ford said. This simply allows an agency to begin negotiations with private firms and determine what the roles will be if they do exploratory seismology testing.
All that would be different is prenegotiations, so the person who puts up $3 million to $15 million for seismographic exploration has first rights to a contract, Ford said.
The bill would not change the current requirement for the governor and Cabinet to give final approval before any contract is finalized, Ford noted.
The House version of the bill was amended last week to limit the search to lands west of Tallahassee, primarily the Charlie Dean, Blackwater River State Forest northeast of Pensacola.
The amendment had yet to be teamed with the Senate version of the bill.
Audubon Florida's Director of Wildlife Conservation Julie Wraithmell objected to the bill, saying the change would have made it harder for the state to review the impact of such leases and could cost the state financially in the long-term by not opening the process to competitive bidding.
I think there was some appropriate hesitation on the (Senate) committees part, Wraithmell said.
Reach Jim Turner at jturner@sunshinestatenews.com or at (772) 215-9889.
