Lame duck Bush plans to trash Florida

No, not George Bush, but Jeb Bush.  The lame duck Florida governor has abandoned his opposition to oil drilling off the coast of Florida (that opposition which helped him win election and re-election) and now supports the legislation by Rep. Pombo (R-CA) which opens the door for oil platforms in the Gulf of Mexico.

Today, an article by John-Thor Dahlburg in the Los Angeles Times describes what is a gigantic FLIP-FLOP by Jeb Bush, probablt designed both to grease Jeb's way to a larger political stage and to innoculate Jeb against any political disease caused by high gas prices.

Here's a link to the article:
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-drill11oct11,0,4410862,print.story?coll=la-home -nation .

UPDATED: Be sure to read the second page of the article, by clicking on 2 at the bottom. I tried to link to the one-page printable version, but the LA Times site switches the URL to the main article.

•  Clay Shaw

  Rep. E. Clay Shaw Jr. (R-Fla.) said last week that the plan would be a good deal for Florida.

  Oh, my, what a gift!  I've been working on a short list of issues that'll resonate to hit Shaw with.  This is one of the best yet.

  by jrooth on Tue Oct 11, 2005 at 09:54:55 AM PDT

•  I've been following this.

  In fact, I just finished bitching about it before coming to catch up on Kos.

  It when I saw an article in the NY Times about another environmentally sensitive area up for drilling in Alaska.  That got me searching for some real data, instead of rhetoric, which lead me to the facts & figures website from the DOE.  Once you do the math on the Teshekpuk region, it isn't that impressive.

  Then I saw a post over at Blah3 about JEB!™'s about-face, so I did the math on the area discussed in that article, too.  The specific area in question --Lease Sale 181 Area-- has numbers that are pitiful, even when compared to Teshekpuk or ANWR.

  It is encouraging to see the L.A. Times article you link to give a proper perspective:

  McLaughlin said the Interior Department had estimated that hydrocarbon reserves off western Florida and the Panhandle would cover about 200 days of the nation's gasoline and heating oil needs. It is not a sufficient gain, McLaughlin said, to expose Florida's tourism industry and fragile subtropical environment to the "gigantic risk" of spills or other accidents.

  Too often, the pro-drilling spin of "vast reserves" or "trillion-billion-million teacups of oil" is stated, without telling you what sort of production they're actually talking about.  A good next step would be for them to mention the extraction rate.  E.g., ANWR's oil won't get out of the ground for five more years, and won't reach peak production until 2020 or so.  And that's for just over a year's worth of oil, based on 2004 consumption rates.  Nice, eh?
  
  Thanks for putting this diary out here.  It's an important, but not necessarily very sexy, subject.
  
  

  by Praxxus on Tue Oct 11, 2005 at 10:03:29 AM PDT

•  You will pardon me

  if I am hording my ire.

  I don't really care about this.  FL voted Bush twice. So, I believe that they should be contributing more than their fair share of NG troops to the cannon fodder-a-matic in Iraq and more than their fair share of the pollution opportunities.

  You vote for Bush, it's what you get.

  by dataguy on Tue Oct 11, 2005 at 10:15:38 AM PDT

  •  I half agree.

    I think the Floridians were foolish for believing JEB!™, but it is worth noting that he was vehemently against offshore drilling while running for re-election this last time, and has flipped his flop now that he is ensconced for a second term.

    by Praxxus on Tue Oct 11, 2005 at 10:19:04 AM PDT

    •  We need to make hay with this

      "You can't believe a repuke!"

      That's the ticket.

      by dataguy on Tue Oct 11, 2005 at 11:20:46 AM PDT

  •  So?

    By your standards, we shouldn't care about ANWR because Alaskans vote Republican?  Or we shouldn't care about Yellowstone or Glacier Park or any of the Western national parks because the Western interior states vote Republican?  Or ..well, I could go on but surely you catch my drift - this is a ridiculous standard to apply.  Our natural wonders are important to the country as a whole, and Florida beaches belong to everyone (indeed, I would say they don't belong to anyone, but they are everyone's responsibility to protect from pollution).  

    Besides, over half of Floridians voted for Gore in 2000 - the Supreme Court disenfranchised us.  And almost half voted for Kerry last time, so don't write us all off.  Start doing that and the Dems will never win a national election.

    by geordie on Tue Oct 11, 2005 at 11:49:56 AM PDT

•  How does this help?

  I don't get how this helps position Jeb for politics on a 'larger stage' -- pissing off Florida is never a good idea.  If there is any sort of ecological impact, it will be even worse for him because the Florida voters are going to feel personally betrayed -- a stepping stone to his 'real' political future.

  by rigger on Tue Oct 11, 2005 at 11:41:03 AM PDT