CS/HM 21

1	House Memorial
2	A memorial to the Congress of the United States, urging
3	Congress to support the expiration and removal of
4	moratoria prohibiting exploration and production of
5	domestic supplies of oil and natural gas in federal waters
6	surrounding Florida and to include Florida in revenue
7	sharing resulting from the production of oil and natural
8	gas in federal waters surrounding Florida.
9
10	WHEREAS, across party lines, Florida's representatives in
11	Congress have long recognized the dependence of the state's
12	tourist and agricultural economies on access to reliable and
13	affordable petroleum products derived from oil and natural gas,
14	and
15	WHEREAS, Florida consumes approximately 28.5 million
16	gallons of gasoline and diesel fuel per day and 10.4 billion
17	gallons of gasoline and diesel fuel annually, and
18	WHEREAS, Florida is expected to increase total utility
19	generation capacity derived from natural gas from 30 percent in
20	2005 to over 44 percent in 2014 to meet increasing electricity
21	demand in the state, and
22	WHEREAS, Florida's fertilizer industry is heavily dependent
23	on access to reliable and affordable natural gas, and
24	WHEREAS, the United States has recently experienced record
25	high prices for gasoline, diesel fuel, and natural gas, and
26	WHEREAS, global demand for oil has risen from 77 million
27	barrels per day in 2001 to 85 million barrels per day in 2007,
28	and
29	WHEREAS, global demand for oil and natural gas is projected
30	to increase 45 percent by 2030, according to the Energy
31	Information Agency, and
32	WHEREAS, the United States produces just 41 percent of the
33	oil its citizens and residents consume and consumes 25 percent
34	of the oil produced globally, and
35	WHEREAS, the United States Department of the Interior
36	conservatively estimates that 118 billion barrels of oil, enough
37	to power 65 million cars for 60 years, is recoverable from
38	domestic sources, and
39	WHEREAS, the United States Department of the Interior
40	conservatively estimates that 651 trillion cubic feet of natural
41	gas, enough to power 60 million homes for 160 years, is
42	recoverable from domestic sources, and
43	WHEREAS, the United States Department of the Interior
44	conservatively estimates that 233 trillion cubic feet of natural
45	gas is recoverable from federal waters in the Gulf of Mexico,
46	and
47	WHEREAS, development and production plans filed with the
48	United States Department of the Interior in 1997 confirm
49	potential resources for the daily production of up to 450
50	million cubic feet of natural gas in a small portion of the
51	Eastern Gulf of Mexico off the Florida Panhandle known as Destin
52	Dome, and
53	WHEREAS, technological advances and environmental
54	partnerships have enabled the energy industry to achieve new
55	levels of safety and ecological protection while producing oil
56	and natural gas in federal waters, and
57	WHEREAS, domestically, the Outer Continental Shelf produces
58	1 million barrels of oil per day, and, according to the National
59	Academy of Sciences, since 1980 less than 0.001 percent has
60	slipped into the sea, which is less than the amount of naturally
61	occurring oceanic seepage, and
62	WHEREAS, Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, which battered the
63	Gulf of Mexico and nearly 3,000 oil platforms directly in their
64	paths with 200-mile-per-hour winds and 100-foot seas in 2005,
65	caused no loss of life among offshore energy industry personnel
66	or significant spills from any offshore oil wells on the Outer
67	Continental Shelf, according to the United States Department of
68	the Interior, and
69	WHEREAS, Hurricanes Ike and Gustav followed very similar
70	paths to Hurricanes Katrina and Rita and caused far less damage,
71	attesting to the progress made by the industry in implementing
72	enhanced oil platform and infrastructure standards, and
73	WHEREAS, Florida continues to have a successful history of
74	oil and natural production in environmentally sensitive areas
75	such as the Everglades dating back to 1943, and
76	WHEREAS, Florida oil and natural gas fields have produced
77	more than 548 million barrels of oil and more than 630 million
78	cubic feet of natural gas since 1943, and
79	WHEREAS, in exchange for a 125-mile drilling buffer in the
80	Gulf of Mexico, Florida declined to participate in the 2006 Gulf
81	of Mexico Energy Security Act that provides 37.5 percent of all
82	federal oil and natural gas revenues, including lease sales and
83	production royalties, to Gulf Coast States, and
84	WHEREAS, the initial Eastern Gulf of Mexico Sale 224 in the
85	2006 Gulf of Mexico Energy Security Act generated in excess of
86	$64 million, 37.5 percent of which went directly to Texas,
87	Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama, and
88	WHEREAS, revenue sharing prescribed in the 2006 Gulf of
89	Mexico Energy Security Act will extend to all new production in
90	the Gulf of Mexico in 2017, and, as a result, Louisiana
91	estimates it will generate more than $650 million per year, and
92	WHEREAS, without a change in policy, Florida will continue
93	to be excluded from sharing additional revenues and royalties
94	related to lease sales and production royalties associated with
95	the development of oil and natural gas resources in the Gulf of
96	Mexico, NOW, THEREFORE,
97
98	Be It Resolved by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
99
100	That the Congress of the United States is urged to continue
101	its support of the expiration of the Congressional moratoria and
102	the removal of the Presidential withdrawal prohibiting oil and
103	natural gas leasing on certain lands of the Outer Continental
104	Shelf, including waters surrounding Florida, and to support
105	modification of the Gulf of Mexico Energy Security Act of 2006
106	for the following purposes:
107	(1)  To remove the moratorium on oil and gas leasing in
108	certain areas of the Gulf of Mexico.
109	(2)  To add Florida to the term "Gulf producing State" so
110	that Florida will be included in sharing qualified Outer
111	Continental Shelf revenues resulting from the production of oil
112	and natural gas.
113	BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that copies of this memorial be
114	dispatched to the President of the United States, to the
115	President of the United States Senate, to the Speaker of the
116	United States House of Representatives, and to each member of
117	the Florida delegation to the United States Congress.

CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions.