From the Sarasota Herald-Tribune:

Floridians and their legislators have had many reasons to be skeptical since proposals surfaced rapidly to open nearshore waters to exploration and drilling for oil. With little notice and even less scrutiny, the state House of Representatives quickly passed a bill last spring to lift a well-established ban on exploration and drilling within three miles of the coastline. There was no good explanation for the rush, and the bill sailed through the House despite the lack of a cost-benefit analysis or basic review of the proponents' claims.

Fortunately, Senate President Jeff Atwater refused the join the rush, demanding a "dispassionate review" of drilling methods, environmental impacts and the dubious claims that oil extraction would be a boon to Florida's economy and promote "energy independence." As a result, the House bill died.

Unfortunately, the efforts to promote drilling in state waters -- as well as in federal waters farther from shore -- are alive. The proposals might not get very far in the near future, however, due to growing skepticism on the part of some legislators. For example, Rep. Doug Holder, a Sarasota Republican whose district includes the coast, and other legislators recently said were led by lobbyists to believe that new technologies would make drilling safe and "virtually invisible."

Oil-industry representations

Indeed, interest groups such as Florida Energy Associates presented legislators, the public and the media with simple, slick brochures picturing virtually invisible alternatives to conventional drilling rigs. A leading proponent of the legislation -- Rep. Dean Cannon, the speaker of the House -- followed the industry line. "Today, temporary ship-based rigs can drill wells far out of sight from shore, using directional drilling and subsea equipment to avoid surface visibility and to protect coastal vistas," Cannon wrote in a guest column we published May 24.

Holder and other rank-and-file House members should have been more skeptical, but they fell into line and passed the bill. But now Holder and other legislators have reason to question their reliance on the oil industry's representations. Directional drilling and subsea equipment haven't been used extensively, if at all, in shallow waters such as those near Florida's West Coast, according to some experts cited in a recent news article by the Herald-Tribune's Jeremy Wallace. Among those interviewed by Wallace were a spokeswoman for the American Petroleum Institute and a Louisiana State University professor.

Expenses and infrastructure needs

These methods are either expensive -- and possibly cost-prohibitive -- or they require pipelines and other infrastructure lacking near the coast. Florida Energy Associates and other drilling proponents contend that, if they were allowed to explore for oil, and if they found significant deposits, then they would meet the technological challenges to ensure safe development -- or not drill. Or, as Dave Mica of the Florida Petroleum Council told us in a recent e-mail: "Shallow water drilling is generally done with temporary jack-up drilling rigs. Once the drilling is complete, the drilling rigs are removed and replaced with a production system. Fixed production platforms are typically installed after most of the drilling is completed."

It's doubtful that coastal residents will find any appeal in the prospect of temporary jack-up rigs and fixed production platforms within three to five miles of shore. Whatever the case, the proponents have the process backward. There is no rush to consider eliminating the nearshore protections until Floridians -- and their legislators -- understand what drilling is all about.