The Problem With Offshore Drilling

Drilling is too much of a risk to Florida's economy and ecology.

BY RON GHANDLER

Recently a bipartisan group lead by Sens. Mel Martinez and Bill Nelson removed a provision (known as "Pombo compromise") in the Budget Reconciliation Act that would have permitted drilling off the coast of Florida in as much as 5.9 million acres.

But even though drilling will do nothing to alleviate oil prices or resource shortages, there is now another push for drilling off Florida's coast. Sen. Martinez said, "We have won the battle to keep Florida's coasts free from drilling, but we have not come close to winning the war."

Gov. Bush, who once ardently and successfully fought drilling off our Gulf Coast, now supports drilling, claiming it to be a matter of national security, and says that opposition to drilling is nothing but partisan politics.

To dismiss the concerns of Floridians across the political spectrum as partisan, and to use the threadbare justification of "national security" for whatever oil corporations want, is spurious and does not facilitate the development of a sustainable Florida economy.

What is at stake? Simply put: Our economy and our ecology, which are inextricably linked. Let's look at two significant segments of Florida's economy.

Florida's Gulf Coast commercial fisheries average over $122 million annually (more than $144 million in 2004) in fish and shellfish sales alone. This does not include the revenue generated through industries that are integral to commercial fishing such as ship yards, boat manufacturing, harbor and dock services, and restaurant sea-food sales to name a few.

Offshore drilling would pose imminent dangers for this industry. In its report, "Environmental emergencies affecting fisheries," the U.N. Atlas of Oceans states that, "The resulting spills (from oil extraction and transport) could have disastrous effects on coastal ecosystems, fisheries, aquaculture installations and, in some instances, on human life. Major impacts of oil spills on fisheries and aquaculture are the smearing of nets and fish cages and the tainting of fish and shellfish, rendering them unfit for marketing." (See http://www.oceansatlas.org.)

All offshore drilling opera-leak, all are subject to significant damage and even destruction from watercraft collisions and hurricanes. Spills resulting from human error are unavoidable.

Oil extracted by drilling rigs in the Gulf of Mexico is delivered to transfer stations or refineries along the coast in two ways: (1) by pipelines that stretch across the ocean floor,and (2) by "shuttle tankers", small tankers designed to make relatively short hauls. Both are risky conveyances.

The Materials Management Service Offshore Minerals Management (OMM) division is the branch of the Department of the Interior responsible for monitoring and management of offshore oil extraction and transport. The information presented on its Web site (http://www.mms.gov/offshore) is voluminous; tables are filled with data for such categories as "Pipeline Incidents," "Human Error," "Collisions," "Fires," "Explosions," "Fatalities," "Loss of Well Control" and "Hurricanes."

In the past 40 years there have been approximately 232 spills of 2,100 gallons or more spills that 0MM refers to as "Significant Pollution Incidences" - associated with offshore rigs in the Gulf of Mexico. Of these 232 incidences 49 were pipeline breaks, most of which were caused by trawler nets or ship anchors ripping the pipelines apart.

And 117 of these spills occurred through a combination of human error and mechanical failure. Seven resulted from "blowouts," where control of the well is lost due to unmanageable pressure, and 32 resulted from barges. or other large unwieldy vessels colliding with rigs and platforms, or running aground. Four were caused by fire, and 23 by hurricanes.

Hurricane path maps from the National Hurricane Center, show that, of the 31 hurricanes to enter the Gull of Mexico since 1900, 12 passed through the areas being sought by the Administration for drilling (http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/HAW2/englishIhistory.shtml).

The spills resulting from these incidences discharged over 23 million gallons of crude oil, diesel fuel, hydraulic fluid, methanol, ethylene glycol (antifreeze) and zinc bromide to name a few. The greatest percentage of toxic fluid discharged was crude oil.

When I was studying coastal streams and marshes in Texas, as well as fishing in the near-coastal waters of Port Aransas and South Padre, it was common to see oil droplets and oil tar globs the size of a person's fist, resulting from leaks and spills, floating throughout the water column.

In the days after a storm,Texas beaches were laden with sticky twisted bundles of seaweed, corals, sponges and trash coated with oil tar, and to which hundreds of fish and shellfish were permanently cemented.

Once along the coast and inland, these substances contaminate surface and ground-water systems that are used for fish propagation, irrigation of crops and drinking water sources. Petroleum contaminants are among the most difficult and costly to remove from soil and water.

Florida's roughly 80 million visitors spent $51 billion last year alone. Virtually all of them ate seafood. Two-thirds engaged in water-related recreation, most of which occurred in coastal waters.

Drilling off florida's Gulf Coast will pay massive amounts of our tax dollars in subsidies to oil corporations; bring no value to our state, nor any improvement In our quality of life; and places at risk those natural seascapes that draw visitors from all over the world, and the natural resources that have made our economy uniquely robust.

Ron Ghandler is president of Applied Environmental Science (AES), a not-for-profit organization in Gainesville specializing in environmental monitoring technology development, science writing, and conservation education.