HM 21

1
House Memorial
2A memorial to the Congress of the United States, urging
3Congress to support the expiration and removal of
4moratoria prohibiting exploration and production of
5domestic supplies of oil and natural gas in federal waters
6surrounding Florida and to include Florida in revenue
7sharing resulting from the production of oil and natural
8gas in federal waters surrounding Florida.
9
10     WHEREAS, across party lines, Florida's representatives in
11Congress have long recognized the dependence of the state's
12tourist and agricultural economies on access to reliable and
13affordable petroleum products derived from oil and natural gas,
14and
15     WHEREAS, Florida consumes approximately 28.5 million
16gallons of gasoline and diesel fuel per day and 10.4 billion
17gallons of gasoline and diesel fuel annually, and
18     WHEREAS, Florida is expected to increase total utility
19generation capacity derived from natural gas from 30 percent in
202005 to over 44 percent in 2014 to meet increasing electricity
21demand in the state, and
22     WHEREAS, Florida's fertilizer industry is heavily dependent
23on access to reliable and affordable natural gas, and
24     WHEREAS, the United States has recently experienced record
25high prices for gasoline, diesel fuel, and natural gas, and
26     WHEREAS, global demand for oil has risen from 77 million
27barrels per day in 2001 to 85 million barrels per day in 2007,
28and
29     WHEREAS, global demand for oil and natural gas is projected
30to increase 45 percent by 2030, according to the Energy
31Information Agency, and
32     WHEREAS, the United States produces just 41 percent of the
33oil its citizens and residents consume and consumes 25 percent
34of the oil produced globally, and
35     WHEREAS, the United States Department of the Interior
36conservatively estimates that 118 billion barrels of oil, enough
37to power 65 million cars for 60 years, is recoverable from
38domestic sources, and
39     WHEREAS, the United States Department of the Interior
40conservatively estimates that 651 trillion cubic feet of natural
41gas, enough to power 60 million homes for 160 years, is
42recoverable from domestic sources, and
43     WHEREAS, the United States Department of the Interior
44conservatively estimates that 233 trillion cubic feet of natural
45gas is recoverable from federal waters in the Gulf of Mexico,
46and
47     WHEREAS, development and production plans filed with the
48United States Department of the Interior in 1997 confirm
49potential resources for the daily production of up to 450
50million cubic feet of natural gas in a small portion of the
51Eastern Gulf of Mexico off the Florida Panhandle known as Destin
52Dome, and
53     WHEREAS, technological advances and environmental
54partnerships have enabled the energy industry to achieve new
55levels of safety and ecological protection while producing oil
56and natural gas in federal waters, and
57     WHEREAS, domestically, the Outer Continental Shelf produces
581 million barrels of oil per day, and, according to the National
59Academy of Sciences, since 1980 less than 0.001 percent has
60slipped into the sea, which is less than the amount of naturally
61occurring oceanic seepage, and
62     WHEREAS, Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, which battered the
63Gulf of Mexico and nearly 3,000 oil platforms directly in their
64paths with 200-mile-per-hour winds and 100-foot seas in 2005,
65caused no loss of life among offshore energy industry personnel
66or significant spills from any offshore oil wells on the Outer
67Continental Shelf, according to the United States Department of
68the Interior, and
69     WHEREAS, Hurricanes Ike and Gustav followed very similar
70paths to Hurricanes Katrina and Rita and caused far less damage,
71attesting to the progress made by the industry in implementing
72enhanced oil platform and infrastructure standards, and
73     WHEREAS, Florida continues to have a successful history of
74oil and natural production in environmentally sensitive areas
75such as the Everglades dating back to 1943, and
76     WHEREAS, Florida oil and natural gas fields have produced
77more than 548 million barrels of oil and more than 630 million
78cubic feet of natural gas since 1943, and
79     WHEREAS, in exchange for a 125-mile drilling buffer in the
80Gulf of Mexico, Florida declined to participate in the 2006 Gulf
81of Mexico Energy Security Act that provides 37.5 percent of all
82federal oil and natural gas revenues, including lease sales and
83production royalties, to Gulf Coast States, and
84     WHEREAS, the initial Eastern Gulf of Mexico Sale 224 in the
852006 Gulf of Mexico Energy Security Act generated in excess of
86$64 million, 37.5 percent of which went directly to Texas,
87Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama, and
88     WHEREAS, revenue sharing prescribed in the 2006 Gulf of
89Mexico Energy Security Act will extend to all new production in
90the Gulf of Mexico in 2017, and, as a result, Louisiana
91estimates it will generate more than $650 million per year, and
92     WHEREAS, without a change in policy, Florida will continue
93to be excluded from sharing additional revenues and royalties
94related to lease sales and production royalties associated with
95the development of oil and natural gas resources in the Gulf of
96Mexico, NOW, THEREFORE,
97
98Be It Resolved by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
99
100     That the Congress of the United States is urged to support
101the expiration and removal of moratoria prohibiting exploration
102and production of domestic supplies of oil and natural gas in
103federal waters surrounding Florida and to include Florida in
104revenue sharing resulting from the production of oil and natural
105gas in federal waters surrounding Florida.
106     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that copies of this memorial be
107dispatched to the President of the United States, to the
108President of the United States Senate, to the Speaker of the
109United States House of Representatives, and to each member of
110the Florida delegation to the United States Congress.


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