HM 1357

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, Florida's economy is suffering and the
11	unemployment rate in the state has remained around 12 percent
12	since 2009, and
13	WHEREAS, Florida's industries, including tourism,
14	agriculture, fertilizer, agrochemical, plastic, manufacturing,
15	bakeries, juice and food processing, pulp and paper, road
16	construction, metals, restaurants, hotels, grocery stores, and
17	research institutions, among many others, are heavily dependent
18	on access to reliable and affordable natural gas, and
19	WHEREAS, according to the Department of Revenue, Florida
20	consumes approximately 28.5 million gallons of gasoline and
21	diesel fuel per day and approximately 10.4 billion gallons of
22	gasoline and diesel fuel annually, and
23	WHEREAS, the Public Service Commission expects Florida to
24	increase total utility generation capacity derived from natural
25	gas from 30 percent in 2005 to over 44 percent in 2014 to meet
26	increasing electricity demand in the state, and
27	WHEREAS, the United States has recently experienced record
28	high prices for gasoline, diesel fuel, and natural gas, and
29	WHEREAS, the Energy Information Administration reports that
30	global demand for oil has risen from 77 million barrels per day
31	in 2001 to 85 million barrels per day in 2007, and
32	WHEREAS, the Energy Information Administration predicts
33	that global demand for energy will increase 44 percent by 2030,
34	requiring an additional 16 million barrels of oil per day and a
35	46-percent increase in the production of natural gas, and
36	WHEREAS, according to the Energy Information
37	Administration, the United States produces just 41 percent of
38	the oil its citizens and residents consume and consumes 25
39	percent of the oil produced globally, and
40	WHEREAS, the United States Department of the Interior
41	conservatively estimates that approximately 116 billion barrels
42	of oil, enough to power 65 million cars for 60 years, and
43	approximately 651 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, enough to
44	power 60 million homes for 160 years, is recoverable from
45	domestic sources, and
46	WHEREAS, the United States Department of the Interior
47	conservatively estimates that around 233 trillion cubic feet of
48	natural gas is recoverable from federal waters in the Gulf of
49	Mexico, and
50	WHEREAS, development and production plans filed with the
51	United States Department of the Interior in 1997 confirm
52	potential resources for the daily production of up to 450
53	million cubic feet of natural gas in a small portion of the
54	Eastern Gulf of Mexico off the Florida Panhandle known as Destin
55	Dome, but the project has been placed under a moratorium, and
56	WHEREAS, the oil and natural gas industry supports 9.2
57	million jobs in the United States and 7.5 percent of the United
58	States economy, and has invested nearly $2 trillion in capital
59	projects in the United States, and
60	WHEREAS, many of Florida's businesses will likely benefit
61	from the oil and natural gas industry if the industry is allowed
62	to move eastward toward Florida in the Gulf of Mexico, and
63	WHEREAS, the oil and natural gas industry has not requested
64	tax subsidies or government grants to expand exploration and
65	production in the Eastern Gulf of Mexico, and
66	WHEREAS, in exchange for a 125-mile drilling buffer in the
67	Gulf of Mexico, Florida declined to participate in the 2006 Gulf
68	of Mexico Energy Security Act that provides 37.5 percent of all
69	federal oil and natural gas revenues, including lease sales and
70	production royalties, to Gulf Coast states, and
71	WHEREAS, the initial Eastern Gulf of Mexico Sale 224 in the
72	2006 Gulf of Mexico Energy Security Act generated in excess of
73	$64 million, 37.5 percent of which went directly to Texas,
74	Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama, and
75	WHEREAS, revenue sharing prescribed in the 2006 Gulf of
76	Mexico Energy Security Act will extend to all new production in
77	the Gulf of Mexico in 2017, and, as a result, Louisiana
78	estimates it will generate more than $650 million per year, and
79	WHEREAS, without a change in policy, Florida will continue
80	to be excluded from sharing additional revenues and royalties
81	related to lease sales and production royalties associated with
82	the development of oil and natural gas resources in the Gulf of
83	Mexico and secure domestic energy resources will remain
84	undeveloped, NOW, THEREFORE,
85
86	Be It Resolved by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
87
88	That the Congress of the United States is urged to continue
89	its support of the expiration of the Congressional moratoria and
90	the removal of the Presidential withdrawal prohibiting oil and
91	natural gas leasing on certain lands of the Outer Continental
92	Shelf, including federal waters surrounding Florida, and to
93	support modification of the Gulf of Mexico Energy Security Act
94	of 2006 for the following purposes:
95	(1)  To remove the moratorium on oil and gas leasing in
96	federal Outer Continental Shelf waters of the Gulf of Mexico.
97	(2)  To add Florida to the term "Gulf producing State" so
98	that Florida will be included in sharing qualified Outer
99	Continental Shelf revenues resulting from the production of oil
100	and natural gas.
101	BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that copies of this memorial be
102	dispatched to the President of the United States, to the
103	President of the United States Senate, to the Speaker of the
104	United States House of Representatives, and to each member of
105	the Florida delegation to the United States Congress.

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