Florida senator signals start of filibuster, after key panel passes drilling off Florida

Media release

March 8, 2006

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson today fired the first shot in what’s expected to be a long battle aimed at killing legislation to allow oil and gas rigs in the eastern Gulf of Mexico closer to Florida’s coast.

A bill to open up vast areas of the Gulf to new drilling passed the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee by a 16-5 vote Wednesday morning, after which Nelson sent a terse one-line note to Senate leaders signaling his intent to filibuster the measure by Sen. Pete Domenici, who chairs the energy panel.

Specifically, Nelson informed the minority leader that he objects to any consideration of the bill by the full senate, which means the Senate won’t be able to take up the bill without first getting 60 votes.

“It’s our intent to filibuster the bill, or do whatever it takes to kill it,” Nelson said today.

He said legislation he filed with Sen. Mel Martinez - a member of the energy panel who voted against Domenici’s bill - takes into account the country’s need for additional sources of natural gas, while also offering full and permanent protection for Florida’s tourism-based economy and coastal environment, and for military training ranges in the eastern Gulf.

Domenici’s bill would bring gas and oil rigs as close as 100 miles from the beaches and open 4.5 million acres in the eastern Gulf to drilling. The Martinez-Nelson plan permanently would keep oil and gas rigs 150 miles from beaches, and provide a 250-mile buffer in an area the military uses for training. It also would open 740,000 acres near the central Gulf to drilling, but the area is at least 150 miles south of Pensacola and 260 miles west of Tampa Bay.

On a related note, Nelson also has protested Interior Secretary Gale Norton’s decision to exclude Florida residents from a series of public hearings on the agency’s plan to open an additional 2 million acres in the Gulf and change state underwater boundaries. Norton’s plan, which has support from the White House and the oil and gas industry, would give oil-friendly Louisiana and Alabama control over waters formerly under Florida's jurisdiction.

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