In the 1960s comedy “The Russians are Coming, the Russians are Coming,” coastal villagers and hapless sailors almost start a war as their imaginations get the best of them. The movie ends well, but only after some close brushes with tragedy.
Russia and Cuba are good drama. So it is not surprising that oil drilling advocates use them to conjure scary stories of enemies off Florida’s coasts. The new plot is Russian subs and Cubans stealing our oil. Their bottom line: Because Cuba might drill, we should, too. Forget the risks to our environment and America’s overdue need to conserve energy — the rallying call is get the oil before the bad guys do.
This faulty logic is reported in the out-of-state newspaper, Investor’s Business Daily. If Florida were a Third World dictatorship suffering from a half-century of economic isolation, the paper’s demand to beat Cuba to the oil might make sense. But we are far beyond that.
Florida is a destination state with a $560 billion coastal and ocean economy. Our regions are named the Gold Coast, the Treasure Coast and the Emerald Coast. Our beaches are lined with businesses and homeowners loath to sacrifice clean water and scenic views in the name of beating Cuba out of its offshore oil. The couple of billion dollars that would come ashore from drilling near our beaches is nothing compared to the hundreds of billions we will spend if an oil spill washes ashore.
Advocates for oil drilling off Florida’s pristine beaches say or do anything to make their case. Florida Energy Associates, the shadowy group of Texas oilmen trying to get leases from the state for a dime on the dollar, have run through a bag of tricks that would make robber barons blush. Buying votes, invented economic benefits, scary stories about submarines — these guys will use anything to get their way.
