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Hernando Today

Oiling The Opposition Machine

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By TONY MARRERO

Hernando Today

Published: June 24, 2008

BROOKSVILLE - As an activist working to preserve and improve the quality of the Gulf of Mexico, Joe Murphy hears from counterparts in other Gulf coast states who envy Florida's heretofore firm stance against oil rigs within 125 miles of shore.

"You guys have got it right," they tell Murphy, a Ridge Manor resident and Florida program coordinator for the Gulf Restoration Network. "You kept them off your coast."

That hasn't stayed that way, however, without periodic battles against pro-drilling forces in the last four decades. Now that there are signs the political tide might be changing on the issue, environmental groups like Murphy's are ramping up efforts once again.

The debate to open more areas of the gulf to drilling - perhaps bringing rigs as close as 50 miles to shore - has begun in earnest since presidential hopeful Sen. John McCain said he supports lifting the federal moratorium on drilling in certain areas in coastal waters, including the Gulf of Mexico. Gov. Charlie Crist has said he's open to lifting the moratorium so states can decide.

The stakes, then as now, are high for the state and for Hernando County in particular, said Murphy, who also is conservation chairman for Hernando Audubon and speaks for both groups.

They are part of a coalition of organizations, including Environment Florida, the Sierra Club, Oceana and Defenders of Wildlife, that will divert much energy to the effort to keep the moratorium in place.

"I think you're going to see the full-court press from environmental groups in Florida," Murphy said. "This is a fight we have to win."

The attack is multi-pronged, he said.

Voters suffering from high gas prices need to be educated so they can make a decision based on knowledge, not the pain at the pump, Murphy said.

The specter of a catastrophe like the one that happened off the coast of Alaska in 1989 should be top of mind, he said.

While the impact of the spill from the Exxon Valdez tanker in 1989 created impacts that remained for years, the rocky coastline made it less difficult to clean, Murphy said. A catastrophic spill that reached Florida's west coast would be different, he said.

The marsh that extends from northern Pasco County to the Big Bend region is "one of if not the most pristine stretches left anywhere in the United States," he said. In the event of a major spill, the soils and plant life would act as a sponge, soaking up oil and fouling habitat for hundreds of species, he said.

"In a mangrove ecosystem or coastal marsh system, you're talking about impacts that could last generations," he said.

Oil companies and the proponents of expanded drilling contend that better technology makes for minimal chances of such a spill.

But environmentalists say the day-to-day pollution that comes with a large, industrial operation like an oil rig creates a cumulative effect that would be felt on Florida's beaches as it has been in Texas, Louisiana and Alabama, Murphy said. He said much of the Gulf Restoration Network's energy is spent trying to undo damage done to coastline in those states as a result of drilling operations there.

"It's death by a thousand cuts," he said.

Politicians' e-mail and voicemail systems will be stuffed by correspondence on the issue.

Environment Florida is encouraging its some 20,000 members to contact their state and Congressional representatives, and Crist, to voice their opposition to more drilling, said Holly Binns, field director for the group that has four field offices in the state, including one in Tampa.

Binns said her group will remind the public that an additional 8 million acres of Gulf waters were opened for exploration in 2006 and "gas prices have gone through the roof, and so have the profits for the oil industry."

She cited a report from the U.S. Energy Information that the amount of oil in the Gulf is enough to lower gas prices by just three to five cents - and that could take a decade or more.

Two of Hernando County's legislative delegation have said they support expanded drilling. Murphy said politicians should be forced to publicly reconcile what environmentalists perceive as contradictory stances.

"If you're an elected official of Florida, you can't simultaneously say, 'We need to address climate change and, oh, at the same time we need to expand drilling for fossil fuels in the Gulf of Mexico,'" he said. "It's kind of like saying if somebody's an alcoholic, we're going to make sure they have more beer in the fridge."

Binns and Murphy said a successful effort, as in years past, will depend on the help from boaters, fisherman, coastal residents and business owners who have a stake in keeping beaches and water pristine and a $70 billion tourism industry afloat.

"There are a hundred environmental reasons why this should not happen," Murphy said, "but take all those off the table and just focus on the economy, and this does not make sense."

Reporter Tony Marrero can be reached at 352-544-5286 or lmarrero@hernandotoday.com.

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