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Extracting black gold for the Sunshine State

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By TOM JACKSON

Published: September 4, 2009

WESLEY CHAPEL - These days, it is the rare dawn that arrives unaccompanied by yet another tributary contributing to a mighty confluence of events that makes continued adherence to a certain outdated dogma dear to environmentalists both foolhardy and fruitless.

This week's revelation is the discovery by BP of a major oil deposit more than 6 miles beneath the floor of the Gulf of Mexico in deep waters 250 miles southeast of Houston.

Yessir, conventional wisdom notwithstanding, there's fossil fuel in those ancient rocks, locked up tight during Earth's Lower Tertiary Period - a geologic designation spanning

40 million years from the demise of the dinosaurs to the rise of the great mammals.

The find, estimated to be between 3 billion and 6 billion barrels, is revelatory. As Shell exploration chief Marvin Odum told The Wall Street Journal, "If anyone was under the impression that the Gulf of Mexico was done, they should change that impression."

Why this is of particular interest to Floridians is as simple as looking at a map, which was precisely how state Rep. Will Weatherford - Republican, future presumptive House speaker and former offshore drilling skeptic - was occupied Thursday morning over a steaming cup of Starbucks' house blend.

"Look at this," Weatherford said, indicating the existing rigs and rich recent finds, all clustered in the western Gulf of Mexico. "Does it make sense that there would be billions of barrels of oil over here and none" - his finger swept to the virgin eastern Gulf - "over here?"

Which returns us to our friends who worship at the altar of uber-environmentalism. One facet of their catechism is that the United States cannot remotely supply its energy needs through domestic sources of hydrocarbons. So why even prospect in the eastern Gulf? But you might as well recommend skipping breakfast because you'll only get hungry again later in the day.

BP's find suggests abundant deposits that, once exploited, will have multiple salutary effects, including expanding the global oil supply, stabilizing prices long term and reducing the flow of dollars, Euros, yen and the like to countries whose regimes are hostile to Western-style democracy and freedom.

Do that prospecting off Florida's coastline - not too close, but within Tallahassee's sphere of legal influence - as the state House and Gov. Charlie Crist have grown eager to do, and additional benefits would accrue directly to the state and its residents.

"Texas," Weatherford said, almost dreamily, "spends $6 billion a year on higher education from the interest off its endowment from oil drilling royalties. Now sure, that's Texas, but it gives you an idea of what might be possible for Florida.

"The low end, most conservative estimate anybody has come up with is $2.5 billion annually. But it could be as high as $8 billion to $10 billion."

Imagine the possibilities. More dollars for higher education, perhaps. Fewer inducements, certainly, to monkey with sales and/or property taxes.

Beauty not only in beach

As for worries about Florida's bankable beaches, this is where Weatherford has become a drill-here, drill-now convert. "The beauty is in the technology," he says. "Environmental protections have improved dramatically to where there's almost a 100 percent guarantee there won't be massive spills." Indeed, today's rigs seep less oil than the Gulf floor itself.

A late-session bill that would have allowed drilling as close to shore as three miles passed in the House but was never taken up in the Senate. Now, with an autumnal special session looming to weigh an agreement over gambling between the governor and Seminole Tribe, state lawmakers may get another shot.

Weatherford, for one, is eager to get moving. The oil buried beneath Florida's remote sands has waited long enough.

Hear Tom Jackson's "The Jax Files Weekend" at 11 a.m. Saturdays on WGUL, 860 AM.

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