Florida PIRG's Mark Ferrulo

In 2001, Gov. Jeb Bush announced, “There will be no new drilling in the Lease Sale 181 Area off the coast of Florida under my watch.”

But now, under pressure from the oil industry and faced with the high winds of the hurricane season and high oil and gas prices, Gov. Bush is considering switching horses and opening the door to new offshore oil drilling.

For decades Floridians have been united in our opposition to offshore drilling because the risks—routine pollution and the potential for a catastrophic spill—were too high and the rewards—a six-month supply of oil—were far too small. That calculation has not changed.

The hallmark provision in the drilling compromise being touted by Gov. Bush is a 125 mile buffer zone of protection for Florida’s gulf coast. This may sound to some as a victory for Florida, but in reality, it would be a major setback.

Pollution and oil spills don’t follow boundaries drawn on maps. Each new drilling platform off Florida’s coast would legally dump over 90,000 tons of toxic drilling muds and other pollutants into our waters. This pollution from offshore drilling causes a wide range of health and reproductive problems for fish and other marine life which also don’t adhere to buffer zones drawn on maps.

Agreeing to a 125 mile buffer zone today creates a problem for tomorrow. Congress could move that boundary next year or any year after to 50 miles, then 25 miles or even closer.

Once the oil industry has broken the precedent of no drilling rigs anywhere off the coast of Florida and they have built all the infrastructure closer to our coast than ever before, the momentum to drill nearer and nearer to our shores may well be insurmountable.

We can’t let Big Oil and their allies in Congress sway Gov. Bush and other Florida offi cials. Especially when there are steps we can take right now—such as requiring cars and trucks to go further on a gallon of gas—that would save more oil than we could ever get by drilling off the Florida coast. We stopped Big Oil’s plans before and we can do so again. But if we give them an inch, they’ll take a mile.