The Quest for Florida's Offshore Oil Has Begun. By Melissa Nelson, AP, July 5, 2008. "Record crude oil prices are fueling support for oil and natural gas exploration off the nation's shores. In Florida, movement was underway even before President Bush called on Congress last month to lift a federal moratorium that's barred new offshore drilling since 1981... The early activity here stems from a 2006 Congressional compromise that allows drilling on 8.3 million acres more than 125 miles off the Panhandle -- an area that had been covered by the moratorium, which was enacted out of environmental concerns. In exchange, the state got a no-drilling buffer along the rest of its beaches... In March, four companies -- Australia-based BHP Billiton Petroleum Deepwater Inc., Houston-based Anadarko E&P Co., Shell Offshore Inc. and Italian oil and natural gas company Eni SpA -- purchased leases on 36 Gulf of Mexico tracts under the 2006 compromise... The 1981 moratorium -- enacted out of environmental concerns in response to a massive oil spill off the Santa Barbara coast a decade earlier -- has prevented the Interior Department from spending money on offshore oil or gas leases in virtually all coastal waters outside the western Gulf of Mexico and in some areas off Alaska... The ban won't be lifted without a fight. U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson, who has led opposition to offshore drilling among the state's Congressional delegation, criticized the governor for reversing his position, accusing [Florida Gov. Charlie] Crist and [John] McCain of putting oil company profits before protecting the state's $65 billion annual tourism industry."
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