Posted on 09/18/2009 7:00:53 AM PDT by cc2k
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Beachgoers play near Galveston, Texas, with an oil rig on the horizon. An oil company wants to drill off Florida’s coast. |
They appeared in the spring, a secretive group trying to upend Florida's longtime ban on offshore drilling by promising millions of dollars and hundreds of jobs.
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But rigs could go up anywhere else, he said. That would leave Citrus, Hernando and Pasco counties open, as well as more tourism-dependent Sarasota and Collier counties and virtually all of the Panhandle.
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Daniels says if the prediction of 16 billion barrels is accurate, that would create 231,000 new jobs.
Most of those would be on the rigs as crew members. Phillips said each rig would need about 150 people. But supervisors need to be experienced, so they would be imported from existing crews elsewhere, Daniels said.
There are also jobs supplying the rigs. These rigs would be too close to shore to justify using helicopters, he said, so instead boats would carry supplies and people back and forth. Phillips said there would be "a huge demand for divers" to inspect the rigs, too.
(Excerpt) Read more at tampabay.com ...
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The article also goes on to explain that much of the oil could be reached by diagonal drilling from onshore sites in industrial areas near the shoreline, or even from wells on golf courses and other spaces near the shoreline.
Overall, this would be great news for a part of the country that is really lacking in jobs. The prognosis down here isn’t too good in the immediate future. Florida’s economy has been based on tourism and population growth (building new homes for the new arrivals). Both have been hit hard by the recession, and tourism also suffers from Obama induced paranoia about corporate travel spending. Florida was a good convention destination, or even a nice destination for the off-site sales meeting or whatever. Meetings in Florida were a nice perk for corporate types, until Obama decided that wasting corporate funds on travel was a bad thing.
Of course the Times is against jobs and against energy independence, so this idea is horrible according to the story.
St PEte Times affectionately known as the “red rag”. I wonder why that is?
The old red is the new green — Watermelons.
| From the desk of cc2k: |
And if there’s 16 billion barrels of oil in just those small parts of the Gulf coast of Florida, imagine what there could be along the Atlantic coast, Keys, etc.
And the Russians/Chinese are being allowed to drill for oil 45 miles off the coast of Key West.
THIS IS OUTRAGEOUS!!!!
In Louisiana, the rigs bring jobs for pilots, boat captains and crew, cooks, charter boats, (crazy fish will not stay away from evil rigs) rough necks, geologists, engineers, etc etc etc. Greatest fishing in all the world is off of Louisiana.
I think the only way we can avoid an economic breakdown is to drill and produce our own oil and gas. America has tens of millions of barrels of oil it can tap in to right now. It would create millions of new jobs and cut off American dollars going to our enemies. We need a new industry to drive our economy or it won’t rebound. Borrowing and taking equity out of real estate has reached its limit.
I forgot the entire East Cost of the United States is FORBIDDEN to look for OIL... Duuuugh..
And, don’t forget the soviet state of California!
The biggest obstruction on the West Coast is the multi million dollar homes with the gulf view. Most of the owners don’t care about jobs, its their view that will be ruined. All those sunsets ruined by oil rigs on the horizon. Solution, put them 20 miles off shore beyond the horizon, and build beach homes and condos less that 3 stories high. There is probably more behind the scenes activities involving protecting individual investments than there is the concern for improving the job market.
“The biggest obstruction on the West Coast is the multi million dollar homes with the gulf view. Most of the owners don’t care about jobs, its their view that will be ruined.”
Let Babs set up a hologram of the ocean then.
Then we can drill.
I live on the water, so my property value could be directly impacted by any spills or leakage.
If there’s oil out there, go get it. Someone else will if we don’t, and I trust American companies to do the best job of getting out safely (and if they screw up, we’ve got the best job of making them pay for the cleanup).
Some folks are worried that drilling would ruin the tourism industry. I suspect it would drive down energy costs (some of the cost of oil must coming from shipping it overseas) so more people could afford to come to Florida and pay my taxes (no state income tax, high sales taxes).
The environmentalist wackos won’t let US firms drill off Florida, but the Chinese are and we all know what a wonderful record they have on the environment.
Bringbackthedraft wrote:
The biggest obstruction on the West Coast is the multi million dollar homes with the gulf view. Most of the owners don’t care about jobs, its their view that will be ruined. All those sunsets ruined by oil rigs on the horizon. Solution, put them 20 miles off shore beyond the horizon, and build beach homes and condos less that 3 stories high. There is probably more behind the scenes activities involving protecting individual investments than there is the concern for improving the job market.
Read the article. They also say that much of the near shore oil can be reached from onshore drilling. Drill outward from industrial parks near the shore, or even from parks and golf courses on the shore. The drilling equipment would be there for a period of months, after that, the well head would be nearly invisible.
Also, the number of visible rigs needed today is much less than in the past. A single visible structure can drill and service wells from miles away. It wouldn’t look like the Louisiana and Texas offshore fields with today’s technology.
| From the desk of cc2k: |
The only question that remains is would Florida prefer to clean up after a Chinese oil company or an American oil company.
I would place my wager on the American companies because they have been drilling for years longer and they’re much safer.
Communist rag St. Pete Times is against AND will FIGHT ANYTHING that brings oil drilling to Florida.
My point of view is ... DRILL BABY, DRILL!!!
“I say DRILL NOW, before the Cubans, Chinese and Russians drain our resources dry from under our very noses”
That is exactly what the Democrats want to happen.
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