HM 563

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, according to the Department of Revenue, Florida
16	consumes approximately 26 million gallons of gasoline and diesel
17	fuel per day and approximately 10 billion gallons of gasoline
18	and diesel fuel annually, and
19	WHEREAS, the Public Service Commission expects Florida to
20	increase total utility generation capacity derived from natural
21	gas from 30 percent in 2005 to over 44 percent in 2014 to meet
22	increasing electricity demand in the state, and
23	WHEREAS, Florida's industries, including fertilizer,
24	agrochemical, plastic, manufacturing, bakeries, juice and food
25	processing, pulp and paper, road construction, metals,
26	restaurants, hotels, grocery stores, and research institutions,
27	among many others, are heavily dependent on access to reliable
28	and affordable natural gas, and
29	WHEREAS, the United States has recently experienced record
30	high prices for gasoline, diesel fuel, and natural gas, and
31	WHEREAS, the Energy Information Administration reports that
32	global demand for oil has risen from 77 million barrels per day
33	in 2001 to 85 million barrels per day in 2007, and
34	WHEREAS, the Energy Information Administration predicts
35	that global demand for energy will increase 44 percent by 2030,
36	requiring an additional 16 million barrels of oil per day and a
37	46-percent increase in the production of natural gas, and
38	WHEREAS, according to the Energy Information
39	Administration, the United States produces just 43 percent of
40	the oil its citizens and residents consume and consumes 25
41	percent of the oil produced globally, and
42	WHEREAS, the United States Department of the Interior
43	conservatively estimates that around 116 billion barrels of oil,
44	enough to power 65 million cars for 60 years, and around 651
45	trillion cubic feet of natural gas, enough to power 60 million
46	homes for 160 years, is recoverable from domestic sources, and
47	WHEREAS, the United States Department of the Interior
48	conservatively estimates that around 233 trillion cubic feet of
49	natural gas is recoverable from federal waters in the Gulf of
50	Mexico, and
51	WHEREAS, development and production plans filed with the
52	United States Department of the Interior in 1997 confirm
53	potential resources for the daily production of up to 450
54	million cubic feet of natural gas in a small portion of the
55	Eastern Gulf of Mexico off the Florida Panhandle known as Destin
56	Dome, and
57	WHEREAS, technological advances and environmental
58	partnerships have enabled the energy industry to achieve new
59	levels of safety and ecological protection while producing oil
60	and natural gas in federal waters, and
61	WHEREAS, domestically, the Outer Continental Shelf produces
62	1 million barrels of oil per day, and, according to the National
63	Academy of Sciences, since 1980 less than 0.001 percent has
64	slipped into the sea, which is less than the amount of naturally
65	occurring oceanic seepage, and
66	WHEREAS, Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, which in 2005
67	battered the Gulf of Mexico and nearly 3,000 oil platforms
68	directly in their paths with major hurricane force winds and
69	100-foot seas, caused no loss of life among offshore energy
70	industry personnel or significant spills from offshore oil wells
71	on the Outer Continental Shelf, according to the United States
72	Department of the Interior, and
73	WHEREAS, in 2008, Hurricanes Ike and Gustav followed very
74	similar paths to Hurricanes Katrina and Rita and caused far less
75	damage, attesting to the progress made by the industry in
76	implementing enhanced oil platform and infrastructure standards,
77	and
78	WHEREAS, Florida continues to have a successful history of
79	oil and natural gas production in environmentally sensitive
80	areas such as the Everglades dating back to 1943, and
81	WHEREAS, according to the Department of Environmental
82	Protection, Florida oil and natural gas fields have produced
83	more than 548 million barrels of oil and more than 630 million
84	cubic feet of natural gas since 1943, and
85	WHEREAS, in exchange for a 125-mile drilling buffer in the
86	Gulf of Mexico, Florida declined to participate in the 2006 Gulf
87	of Mexico Energy Security Act that provides 37.5 percent of all
88	federal oil and natural gas revenues, including lease sales and
89	production royalties, to Gulf Coast states, and
90	WHEREAS, the initial Eastern Gulf of Mexico Sale 224 in the
91	2006 Gulf of Mexico Energy Security Act generated in excess of
92	$64 million, 37.5 percent of which went directly to Texas,
93	Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama, and
94	WHEREAS, revenue sharing prescribed in the 2006 Gulf of
95	Mexico Energy Security Act will extend to all new production in
96	the Gulf of Mexico in 2017, and, as a result, Louisiana
97	estimates it will generate more than $650 million per year, and
98	WHEREAS, without a change in policy, Florida will continue
99	to be excluded from sharing additional revenues and royalties
100	related to lease sales and production royalties associated with
101	the development of oil and natural gas resources in the Gulf of
102	Mexico, NOW, THEREFORE,
103
104	Be It Resolved by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
105
106	That the Congress of the United States is urged to support
107	the expiration and removal of moratoria prohibiting exploration
108	and production of domestic supplies of oil and natural gas in
109	federal waters surrounding Florida and to include Florida in
110	revenue sharing resulting from the production of oil and natural
111	gas in federal waters surrounding Florida.
112	BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that copies of this memorial be
113	dispatched to the President of the United States, to the
114	President of the United States Senate, to the Speaker of the
115	United States House of Representatives, and to each member of
116	the Florida delegation to the United States Congress.

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