Florida Senate - 2010                                    SM 1726
       
       
       
       By Senator Oelrich
       
       
       
       
       14-01770-10                                           20101726__
    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, 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.