The Gulf of Mexico may look calm from the porch I’ve perched myself on for the Thanksgiving holiday, but a contentious political storm is slowly brewing over efforts afoot in the Florida Legislature to repeal a ban on offshore drilling in the Gulf of Mexico.
The question of whether to drill isn’t as partisan as some may think. Just as there are Democrats who support repealing the ban, there are many Republicans who favor keeping the ban in place.
One of those Republicans is Senate President Jeff Atwater, who has slowed legislative efforts aimed at repealing the ban. Unfortunately for opponents of offshore drilling, Sen. Atwater will only hold his post for one more year.
Supporters of offshore drilling will be happy to hear that Atwater’s slated replacement is another Republican, Sen. Mike Haridopolos, who has publicly stated his desires to open up the Gulf of Mexico for drilling exploration.
Haridopolos, who is also a faculty member at UF, isn’t advocating a minority viewpoint. Multiple opinion polls have shown that as the state’s economy worsens, many Floridians have warmed up to the idea of allowing offshore oil and natural gas exploration.
Opponents of offshore drilling are quick to claim that tourists would go elsewhere if beaches were ruined by an oil spill, drawing the connection that offshore drilling is bad for Florida tourism.
In the crazy and beautiful state that is Florida, the complex issue of offshore drilling has been expressed by our parents and those old enough to be our parents as a choice between protecting Florida’s $57 billion tourism industry and the choice of creating more jobs by reducing the country’s energy dependence on foreign oil.
This is so Old Florida thinking.
My generation knows that the future of Florida doesn’t rest solely in either of these options. New Florida is a Florida that promotes new forms of energy, rather than oil, whose heyday was many, many family vacations ago. New Florida is a Florida that doesn’t put all of its economic eggs in one basket prone to hurricanes, and yes, possibly oil spills. New Florida is a Florida that embraces and incentivizes alternative forms of energy and invests in its future by devoting time to its youth. (Note to legislators reaching for the budget scalpel: Few high-tech companies are going to come here if our native workforce isn’t more proficient in math and science.)
Unfortunately, few in the Old Florida camp have come to the conclusions New Florida has already reached and have instead launched a debate about the merits of drilling offshore for a polluting natural resource on the decline.
This is not the debate we should be having. This is certainly not discussion worthy for the proverbial dinner table. Instead, Floridians should ask why their state was ranked 23rd in energy efficiency by the nonprofit American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy. The greatest irony of Florida’s day is that the state that calls itself the Sunshine State hasn’t adequately invested in solar energy, much less any other alternative energy.
Instead, Old Florida residents have worked themselves into a tizzy over tourism and oil, as if their great state has only these two options to offer its citizens.
How wrong they are.
Matt Christ is a political science sophomore. His column appears on Mondays.
