Public News Service-FL nc@publicnewsservice.org]

February 10, 2010

A Line in the Florida Sand

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – On Saturday, thousands of Floridians will literally draw a line in the sand to fight near-shore oil and gas drilling. The “Hands Across the Sand” protest is aimed at putting the brakes on a proposal many feel will damage the environment and jeopardize Florida’s beach-dependent tourism industry.

Organizer Dave Rauschkolb says people will be holding hands, along beaches from Pensacola to Key West and Miami to Jacksonville, to make a point about Florida’s ecology and economy.

“Every Chamber of Commerce from Pensacola to Panama City Beach has passed resolutions against oil drilling.”

The group Defenders of Wildlife predicts that a bill to allow drilling off the Florida coastline will be the defining issue of the legislative session that begins in March; a similar measure failed last year when the state Senate refused to consider it.

Supporters of drilling say it would help ease the nation’s dependence on foreign oil and create jobs, but Shannon Miller with Florida’s Defenders of Wildlife chapter, warns the potential damage is not worth the gamble.

“It will leave us with damaged coastal and marine habitats and lead us away from a healthy, sustainable and renewable energy future.”

Rauschkolb adds Florida’s beaches are the key to the state’s economic health, and doing anything that might endanger them is a foolish risk.

“Florida’s legacy is clean water, clean beaches, sunshine, lots of fun – and why would we want to risk that coastal legacy?”

Participants in Hands Across the Sand will gather at their local beaches at 1:30 p.m. on Saturday, February 13. For more information about the protest, see www.handsacrossthesand.org.

Special thanks to Richard Charter

State officials first adopted a drilling moratorium in the 1990s and lawmakers readopted a three-year ban in 2007. But that expired on Jan. 2 of this year.

After more than a half hour’s debate, the House voted 38-21 in support of House Bill 3613, which would extend the drilling ban for another 10 years. The vote moves the bill on to the Senate for consideration.

“Oregonians are not willing to risk our off-shore resources for a few days of energy,” argued Rep. Ben Cannon, D-Portland.

But others questioned whether 10 years is too long to lock up a resource Oregon might need.

Rep. Wayne Krieger, R-Gold Beach, said rapidly evolving technology may make it possible to extract oil and gas without harming the environment. Krieger asked: “How can you create jobs without using natural resources in our rural communities?”

Environmental and fishing industry groups, often adversaries on public policy issues, teamed up in favor of seeing the ban renewed during this month’s special session. The original version of the bill called for a permanent ban but a compromise was struck shortening it to 10 years.

No one expects oil companies are planning to begin drilling anytime soon. Yet the idea does come up. Two years ago, with gas prices topping $4 a gallon, some in Congress called for the nation to tap its off-shore reserves.

Brian Doherty, lobbyist for the Western States Petroleum Association, testified in committee that the are no proven commercial quantities of oil or natural gas in Oregon’s territorial sea. But his group opposed a permanent ban.

Special thanks to  Richard Charter

http://www.tampabay.com/news/environment/offshore-oil-drilling-foes-to-protest-on-beaches/1072362
St. Pete Times
TampaBay.com

By Craig Pittman, Times Staff Writer . Special thanks to Richard Charter
In Print: Thursday, February 11, 2010

Opponents of offshore drilling are hoping thousands of people dressed in black will join them Saturday holding hands on beaches around the state for 10 minutes.

The idea for the “Hands Across the Sand” protest came from Dave Rauschkolb, 48, who for the past 24 years has owned a beachfront restaurant called Bud & Alley’s in the Panhandle community of Seaside.

Rauschkolb, a surfer for more than 30 years, said his plan was as simple as could be: “How hard is it to get people to go to the beach in Florida?”
When he pitched the idea to some friends, it began to snowball. Now there are 70 beaches around the state where various groups have agreed to help sponsor a local version of the protest.

Doug Daniels, the Daytona Beach attorney representing the pro-drilling Florida Energy Associates LLC, said he hadn’t heard about Hands Across the Sand but that “it sounds like a fine protest.” As for whether it will have any impact on the Legislature, though, he said, “I doubt that it will.”

In fact, he said, he hopes his side can convince the protesters that drilling is environmentally safe. “We hope at the end of the day, we’ll have their support,” he said.

In the Tampa Bay area there are protests slated for Upham Beach, Clearwater Beach, Fort De Soto, St. Pete Beach, Gulfport, Lassing Park, Madeira Beach, Pass-a-Grille, Redington Shores, Clam Bayou, Treasure Island, and Tarpon Springs.

Organizers are asking opponents of drilling to dress in black – the color of an oil spill – and gather at their designated beach at 1 p.m. They want them to hold hands for 10 minutes, showing their solidarity.

 Craig Pittman can be reached at craig@sptimes.com or (727) 893-8530.

http://hamptonroads.com/2010/02/virginia-senate-kills-bill-offshoredrilling-profits

By Julian Walker
The Virginian-Pilot
© February 10, 2010

special thanks to Richard Charter

The Democratic majority in Virginia’s Senate this afternoon killed for the year legislation from Virginia Beach Republican Sen. Frank Wagner to dedicate future offshore drilling royalties to the state general fund, a coastal energy research consortium and to localities for transportation fixes.

Wagner carried SB601 on behalf of Gov. Bob McDonnell, whose transportation funding plan partly relies on money from drilling. It was defeated on a 22-18 party line vote.

Noting that federal officials haven’t yet approved drilling off Virginia’s coast or decided how royalties would be dispersed, Senate Majority Leader Richard Saslaw, D-Fairfax, called the bill “a fantasy” that seeks to dedicate dollars “the state is never going to see.”

In rebuttal remarks, Wagner said actions at the state and federal level in recent years have put Virginia closer to being granted approval for offshore drilling. Rejecting the bill sends the wrong signal to Washington, he argued. Upcoming November elections could alter the political makeup of Congress and change how it deals with offshore drilling, he added.

A similar defeat likely awaits offshore-drilling royalty legislation from Del. Chris Stolle, R-Virginia Beach, which previously passed the House of Delegates. That measure, HB756, already rests in the Senate Finance Committee, to which Wagner’s bill was dispatched.
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http://www.dailypress.com/news/virginia/dp-va–xgr-offshoredrill0210feb10,0,1076395.story http://www.dailypress.com/news/virginia/dp-va–xgr-offshoredrill0210feb10,0,1076395.story
Daily Press
Dems say bill would give ‘false hope’
RICHMOND, Va. – The Virginia Senate has killed a measure pushed by Gov. Bob McDonnell to allocate funds received from possible offshore drilling for oil and gas off the state’s coast to services such as education, health care and public safety.

Democrats argued that Congress was not likely to approve the sale of leases for drilling rights, and to pass a bill allocating such royalties would give citizens false hope in tough economic times.

The Senate voted 22-18 Wednesday along party lines to send the proposal back to committee, where it will be carried over until next year.

The House passed a similar measure on Monday that would divert 70 percent of the revenues to transportation, 20 percent to energy research and 10 percent to localities.