Bush Wants Coastal Waters Open for Drilling

WASHINGTON — The Bush administration Monday called for opening long-protected coastal waters off Virginia, Alaska and Florida to oil and gas exploration, saying the Outer Continental Shelf — which has remained off limits for decades — is a "vital source" of energy production.

The Interior Department’s plans call for opening 5.6 million acres in water northwest of Alaska, as well as drilling 50 miles off Virginia’s eastern shore.

Drilling in Florida would come no closer than 125 miles to shore, conforming to boundaries set by Congress last year after intensive negotiating by Florida’s congressional delegation. But the plan was still panned by environmentalists who said it greenlights oil production off the Florida coast for the first time ever.

"It represents a huge step toward opening up the coast of Florida," said Mark Ferrulo, director of Environment Florida. "There is limited opportunity at this point to stop drilling as far as Florida is concerned."

Industry groups greeted the plan as a "modest step" and called for opening even more of the Outer Continental Shelf to drilling, setting up a conflict between the White House and Congress, which has resisted calls to lift drilling bans in other areas.

"At a minimum Congress should support (Interior’s) limited efforts to expand domestic natural gas supply," said Jack Gerard, president of the American Chemistry Council.

Congress has 60 days to review the plan and Democrat Sen. Bill Nelson, who negotiated along with his Republican colleague, Sen. Mel Martinez, to keep exploration off the Florida coast, took to the Senate floor to denounce the plan, saying the administration’s strategy is "drill, drill, drill.

"This plan calls into serious question why the White House remains intent on drilling elsewhere off our coasts and fattening the bottom line of the oil companies," Nelson said.

Interior department officials took pains at a press conference to note that the plan stays clear of Florida’s coast. The Florida delegation, which has long been opposed to any drilling, agreed last year to legislation that allows for energy exploration in a huge swath of the Gulf of Mexico 125 miles south of the Panhandle.

"It’s literally miles and miles from Florida," Minerals Management Service Director Johnnie Burton said.