http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/opinion/os-ed-cuba-drill-060811-20110607,0,4187178.story
12:00 a.m. EDT, June 8, 2011
For three years, lawmakers and U.S. officials have known about the Scarabeo 9, a semisubmersible rig that, come this fall, is expected to begin drilling in Cuban waters. A mere 50 miles or so from the Florida Keys.
They’ve known about it. Some tried to do something about it. Failing. Miserably.
Until now. U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar announced Friday that Repsol, the Spanish company that will operate the Chinese-built rig, has agreed to voluntarily follow U.S. offshore drilling rules.
That’s encouraging news for Florida, still recovering from the BP Deepwater Horizon disaster that spewed millions of gallons of crude. The Repsol operation will be about 1,500 feet deeper than BP’s.
But the story doesn’t end with Salazar’s news. Florida can’t afford to be in the path of another serious spill, yet drilling in Cuba’s waters creates opportunities for more spills to happen – and dangerously close to Florida’s shores. The state needs safeguards.
The U.S. will be able to inspect the Scarabeo 9. But what happens if Repsol at some point neglects to follow U.S. offshore drilling rules? Salazar told reporters there was no discussion with the company about potential consequences of that happening.
There needs to be, with the consequences of shoddy or dangerous drilling operations spelled out.
Sarasota Rep. Vern Buchanan, for example, has sought to deny U.S. oil and gas leases to companies involved in drilling off Cuba. The U.S. could similarly limit Repsol’s access to future drilling leases in U.S. waters. That’s something that should concern Repsol. The company has several permits awaiting U.S. approval in the Gulf.
Or the Department of Interior might borrow a page from a bill by Florida Sen. Bill Nelson, which called for pulling the visas of executives involved in Cuba’s oil drilling operations. The visas potentially could be denied to executives of companies that ignore essential, agreed upon safety precautions.
But considerably more has to happen. And not merely because of Repsol’s impending operation. Repsol, according to a Congressional expert on drilling, actually has a fairly respectable record. However, after Repsol makes use of the rig off Cuba, others plan to use the Scarabeo 9. They include Russia’s Gazprom, ONGC of India, Brazil’s Petrobras and Petroleus of Venezuela.
It’s therefore imperative for the U.S. to follow the recommendations of the National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and enter into a cooperative spill response agreement with Cuba. Former Florida Gov. Bob Graham co-chaired the commission, wisely saying, however impolitic, that such an agreement wouldn’t be “a capitulation to Castro; rather it is something in our self-interest to ensure that anything that relates to drilling have high safety standards.”
Chilly relations between the U.S. and Cuba and the half-century-old trade embargo may make jointly planning for and cooperating in the event of an oil spill a heavy lift. But if former cold warriors Russia and the U.S. can cooperate in outer space and even sometimes here on earth – witness their seeming agreement on Moammar Gadhafi’s future in Libya – the U.S. and Cuba can make a break in their icy relations, enough to agree on how to troubleshoot a spill.
What mustn’t happen in the wake of the Scarabeo 9 is for Big Oil’s legislative abettors to use Repsol as an excuse to resuscitate a potentially catastrophic plan to end Florida’s offshore drilling ban.
“If Cuba’s going to allow rigs near Florida, there’s no reason to keep U.S. rigs from drilling nearer Florida’s shores,” they so much as told us.
Except that it would make a potentially dangerous situation exponentially worse.
Special thanks to Richard Charter