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

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