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State House Panel Discusses Drilling

A Florida House panel is meeting today to discuss offshore oil and gas drilling. The Select Policy Council on Strategic and Economic Planning is laying the groundwork for what may be one of the most contentious issues lawmakers will face during next year's session. The House passed a bill earlier this year that would have given the governor and Cabinet authority to lift a ban on offshore oil-drilling but the Senate never took up the proposal. The house bill would have allowed drilling as close as three miles from shore. Today's workshop is chaired by Representative Dean Cannon, a Republican from Winter Park. Cannon is known as one of the Legislature's leading supporters of offshore drilling, But the council also includes eight representatives from Gulf Coast districts where offshore drilling is unpopular among many voters. Drilling advocates say profits from oil pumped from below the Gulf would generate millions of dollars for the state treasury. Opponents say it could ruin Florida's beaches and damage the tourism industry.

 

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