As expected, House Speaker-elect Dean Cannon’s committee released its bill today to overturn Florida’s long-standing prohibition against nearshore oil and gas drilling. The House Select Policy Council on Strategic and Economic Planning will discuss and likely vote on the bill in its scheduled meeting TOMORROW.
Please take a moment to email or call the members of this Council, telling them to protect Florida’s beaches: renewable energy, not nearshore drilling, is the kind of leadership Florida needs!
Despite extensive discussion in the House, this proposal has failed to gain traction to-date in the Senate; a bill filed by incoming Senate President Mike Haridopolos (R-Melbourne) was referred to several committees but has not been heard in any.
Cannon’s bill is modeled on last year’s HB 1219 which emerged late in session, passing the House but failing to be taken up by the Senate.
Some of the provisions in this year’s legislation include:
- Requiring the Board of Trustees to open lease sales twice a year, with bid submission fees of $1M and fixed royalty amounts of at least 1/8, and a $500M surety bond for drilling.
- Allowing directional drilling to occur just outside of aquatic preserves, wildlife refuges and sanctuaries to extract resources underneath preserves, refuges and other sensitive areas.
- Requiring that all drilling infrastructure within three miles of the coast be subsurface; requiring that above surface exploration structures between 3 and 6 miles be temporary only (less than 6 months).
- Preempting local governments from protecting their local beaches by restricting drilling within their waters.
- Requiring the Secretary of Defense to object to each individual lease block sale in order to provide consideration for the military mission.
For more on the bill, read the staff summary and the bill text.
Please take a moment to share your concerns with this committee! Florida deserves clean energy and the jobs that come with it today.
