HM 509

1
House Memorial
2A memorial to the Florida delegation to the United States
3House of Representatives, urging unified resistance to
4proposals for the revision of measures protecting the
5coastline of Florida against oil and gas drilling.
6
7     WHEREAS, Florida's Congressional Delegation has long stood
8united against proposals for oil and gas drilling off the
9state's coasts, and
10     WHEREAS, across party lines, Florida's Congressional
11representatives have long recognized that protection of
12Florida's fragile coastal ecology is vital to the state's
13economy as well as its ecology, and have understood that, in
14Florida, the economy and the ecology are indeed inseparable,
15and
16     WHEREAS, temporary energy shortages in the wake of
17Hurricanes Katrina and Rita have encouraged oil- and gas-
18drilling interests to attempt to break down defenses that have
19thus far protected Florida's coastal resources from many of the
20pollution and contamination risks of our time, and
21     WHEREAS, the United States Department of the Interior has
22estimated that hydrocarbon reserves off western Florida and the
23Panhandle would meet only about 200 days of the nation's
24gasoline and heating oil needs projected for this winter, and
25     WHEREAS, in practical terms, these reserves would not
26become available for at least 2 years, and a possible maximum
27of 10 years, after drilling begins, and thus do not constitute
28a solution to the immediate shortfall or a justification for
29proposals to change current laws limiting coastal drilling, and
30     WHEREAS, Hurricanes Katrina and Rita have demonstrated
31beyond doubt the extraordinary risks of placing additional
32drilling operations in the Gulf of Mexico, risks that are both
33economic in the short term and ecological in the long term, and
34     WHEREAS, scientists have alerted us to the presently
35unpredictable results of contaminating marine organisms and
36ecosystems in the Gulf of Mexico, which are a vital part of the
37food chain throughout the Southeastern United States and the
38entire country, and
39     WHEREAS, our society stands at a point at which our almost
40exclusive reliance on oil drilling has led to the problems we
41face today, and our energy policy should be based on the use of
42viable 21st-century energy sources, NOW, THEREFORE,
43
44Be It Resolved by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
45
46     That the Florida delegation to the United States House of
47Representatives is urged to stand strong and united against any
48attempt to allow oil or gas drilling along Florida's coastline.
49     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that copies of this memorial be
50dispatched to the Speaker of the United States House of
51Representatives and to each member of the Florida delegation to
52the United States House of Representatives.


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