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Group wants offshore drilling on ballot

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By CATHERINE DOLINSKI

cdolinski@tampatrib.com

Published: May 31, 2009

TALLAHASSEE - A group of activists intend to launch a petition initiative to place the issue of offshore oil drilling before voters in 2010. FloridaOil.org plans to ask Florida voters to lift the state ban and kick-start a new offshore drilling industry for the state.

"The people have spoken loud and clear; they support this," said Don Baldauf of Bradenton, head of the small but growing FloridaOil.org, which has members and volunteers sprinkled across 10 counties.

Baldauf, who runs a small business installing security systems, mounted an unsuccessful run without party affiliation for the District 13 seat in Congress last year. Now he plans to ask voters in 2010 to lift Florida's 20-year ban on drilling in state waters, and mandate Florida build an offshore oil and gas industry. "Whatever it takes to start drilling and pumping," he said.

details of his ballot question - or questions - are in the works. Baldauf has registered his organization, which has fledgling chapters in Pinellas and Leon counties, with the state Division of Elections and has is talking with an attorney he declined to name about ballot language to submit to the state this summer.

That places the initiative on a tight timeline, and Baldauf has barely begun fundraising. But he hopes oil and gas interests will back him financially to put the effort on the fast track. Making the 2010 ballot requires 676,811 valid signatures by Feb. 1.

The state House embraced a plan to lift the 20-year ban on drilling in Florida waters this spring after Speaker-designate Dean Cannon, R-Winter Park, attached the proposal late in the session to a more modest drilling bill. But the legislation hit a wall in the state Senate, where President Jeff Atwater, R-Palm Beach, refused to bring it to a vote because it had not received a full vetting in his chamber. Cannon and other lawmakers say they intend to improve the plan and bring it back next spring.

If they do, they'll receive a positive reception in the Senate, predicted Sen. Ronda Storms, R-Valrico, who supports the concept. A petition initiative, she said, may further pressure lawmakers to act. "It demonstrates a commitment on the part of the state and her citizenry, and it also ignites a fire under the debate."

Baldauf said he can't wait for lawmakers because "Atwater has proven that we can't rely on him" on this issue. The conservative activist is exploring the prospect of asking voters to expand Florida's seaward boundaries - and by extension, its drilling options.

He hopes that a section of the U.S. Submerged Lands Act supports his idea.

The 1953 law defines Florida's Gulf boundary as three marine leagues, or roughly 10 miles, from shore. But it states that if a state indicates "heretofore or hereafter" by constitutional provision or law that it intends to extend its boundaries, then that claim "is hereby approved and confirmed ... that its boundaries extend beyond that line."

Ronald Weaver, a land-use lawyer in Tampa who frequently deals with property-rights issues, called the language "interesting." He added, "It does create what we call in the law a 'deference' to the state's assertion of greater jurisdiction on the subject."

But that deference is not unlimited, he said. Federal case law establishes strong federal sovereignty over submerged lands and resources in the Atlantic Ocean. In the Gulf of Mexico, it's more ambiguous, giving states more deference when they can prove they have a compelling interest. It appears, however, that the state may prevail only if the federal government has failed to provide needed regulation or other action, he said.

U.S. Department of the Interior spokesman Frank Quimby said that section of the 1953 law was meant only to establish 3-mile or 10-mile seaward boundaries for states that had yet to claim any at all. "It wasn't saying that states have authority to make new claims" beyond that.

Baldauf said he's awaiting input from legal experts before deciding whether to address the issue in a ballot question. he intends to submit at least one oil drilling ballot question for 2010. He expects consumer frustration over increasing gas prices will propel his cause.

That's possible, said Nature Conservancy lobbyist Janet Bowman. She hopes, however, that the attention President Barack Obama and the Democratic-controlled Congress have focused on global climate change and alternative fuels will make people think twice. She and other environmentalists warn there is no guarantee modern drilling technology will insulate the environment and Florida tourism from harm.

"The coastal resources of Florida are an incredibly important component of Florida's economy" she said. "To risk those resources requires an incredible amount of certainty that they're not going to be damaged. And the jury is still out on that."

Reporter Catherine Dolinski can be reached at (850) 222-8382.

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