Florida Senate - 2009 SM 504
By Senator Oelrich
14-00399-09 2009504__
1 Senate Memorial
2 A memorial to the Congress of the United States,
3 urging Congress to support the expiration and removal
4 of moratoria prohibiting exploration and production of
5 domestic supplies of oil and natural gas in federal
6 waters surrounding Florida and to include Florida in
7 revenue sharing resulting from the production of oil
8 and natural 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 support
101 the expiration and removal of moratoria prohibiting exploration
102 and production of domestic supplies of oil and natural gas in
103 federal waters surrounding Florida and to include Florida in
104 revenue sharing resulting from the production of oil and natural
105 gas in federal waters surrounding Florida.
106 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that copies of this memorial be
107 dispatched to the President of the United States, to the
108 President of the United States Senate, to the Speaker of the
109 United States House of Representatives, and to each member of
110 the Florida delegation to the United States Congress.