Posted on 07/17/2010 5:25:13 PM PDT by Elle Bee
Florida Keys residents may be breathing a collective sigh of relief now that the Deepwater Horizon oil spill has been capped, but the threat of oil reaching local shores is far from over, as there is a new threat looming.
A foreign oil company plans to drill off Cuba, just 60 miles south of Key West, the Wall Street Journal has quoted Repsol spokeswoman Maria Ritter as saying.
Florida Sen. Bill Nelson in May sent President Barack Obama a letter stating he was "greatly concerned by reports that Spanish oil giant Repsol has contracted with a unit of Italian oil company Eni SpA to operate an exploratory rig off of Cuba's northwest shores."
Cuba's state-run oil company, Cubapetroleo, continues to lease individual exploration areas to foreign oil companies in both the Florida Straits and Gulf of Mexico, said Nelson, D-Fla. To date, Cuba has leased 17 of 59 areas to oil and gas companies based in Spain, Norway, India, Malaysia, Venezuela, Vietnam and Brazil, Nelson said. There are also reports that Cuba is negotiating a lease with the China National Petroleum and Corp. to jointly explore as many as five offshore blocks in the Gulf.
"It is clear that we cannot condone drilling so close to Florida," Nelson wrote Obama. "I look forward to working with you to ensure that we not only protect Florida, but also prevent the Castro regime from being enriched at our expense."
At the heart of debate is the 1977 U.S. Cuba Maritime Boundary Agreement, which was approved by then-President Jimmy Carter as a way to settle ongoing fishery boundary disputes. The agreement sets Cuban waters at 45 miles off the Keys, the halfway point between the two countries.
The agreement has never been ratified by the Senate, but has been enforced via the exchange of diplomatic letters every two years, Nelson said. He contends the agreement was put in place to settle fishing rights issues, not oil drilling and other mineral rights disputes.
"I urge you to recall the diplomatic note and to work in the national security of the United States to prohibit the Cuban regime from initiating further drilling," Nelson wrote. "I am sure you agree that we cannot allow Cuba to put at risk Florida's major business and irreplaceable environment."
Obama's national security adviser, Gen. James Jones, responded to Nelson's letter by saying the United States will not withdraw from the agreement. Jones contends that withdrawing would have no effect on Cuba drilling and would "call into question a maritime boundary considered beneficial to the United States."
"Although we share your concerns regarding the potential risks posed by the development of offshore oil drilling along the Cuban coast, withdrawal from the Maritime Boundary Agreement would be detrimental to U.S. national interests," Jones wrote.
Concerns about Cuba drilling for oil are raised every several years and last surfaced four years ago with reports of China helping the Caribbean nation drill for oil. Nelson has responded each time with proposed legislation that would allow the U.S. government to deny visas to foreign oil executives conducting business with Cuba and curb their ability to do business in the United States.
A decades-old trade embargo already forbids most U.S. companies from doing business with Cuba.
Nelson was unsuccessful in having the legislation passed last session and has not refiled it this year because he and other legislators are focused on health care, financial reform and the Deepwater Horizon spill, his spokesman said this week.
House Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R-South Florida, has proposed a companion bill.
"The U.S. government has no control over Cuba's drilling program, even though drilling can occur as close as 45 miles from Key West," Ros-Lehtinen said. "The current disaster in the Gulf of Mexico, hundreds of miles from the Keys, shows just how potentially risky drilling is even if it's miles away. I also have serious concerns about the technology being utilized by foreign companies seeking to invest in Castro's drilling program. In the U.S., BP was said to use the latest and safest technology in deep-water drilling. The prospect of foreign countries with lax safety records, such as China, drilling so close to Florida's beaches should be cause for tremendous concern."
An oil spill 60 miles off the Keys could have devastating effects on the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary and coral reefs and beaches across South Florida.
"The Florida Keys should be very concerned about this," said Paul Johnson, who handles oil and other larger issues for the Key West-based Reef Relief. "What this shows is that there needs to be international standards for offshore oil and gas operations that are affecting the world's oceans. The Deepwater Horizon event has taught us that we have one ocean and it's connected."
National Marine Sanctuaries Regional Administrator Billy Causey on Wednesday said he was not familiar with Cuba's latest drilling plans, but that he and other officials will follow the issue.
"We will be paying close attention to this, just as we are monitoring what's going on with the Deepwater Horizon oil spill," Causey said. "This will certainly be dealt with by the highest levels of government."
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.... because we can't drill in the Gulf anymore
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What a bunch a naive jackasses we have running this country. It is amazing as well and devastating at the same time, to watch this bunch.
Is Castro going to commission an Environmental Impact Study ?
Shouldn’t Obie One ban this?
What can you say goes back to Kennedy waffling to the Soviets and giving the democrats an entire country.
“It is clear that we cannot condone drilling so close to Florida,” Nelson wrote Obama. “I look forward to working with you to ensure that we not only protect Florida, but also prevent the Castro regime from being enriched at our expense.”
While the oil spill will have only limited and short term negative environmental impacts (easy to say when you live far from the Gulf), the mess in the Congress and White House may well cause the mass extinction of the American way of life.
Yeah big deal, its called being bored to tears. I bet out in the wild the don’t do that Id say let them out
Yeah, they could swim around Cuba’s Deep Sea Oil Wells and Blow Oil Bubbles. Might get that rainbow effect going that we have been seeing in some of those massive oil slicks.
Obama’s message to American oil production is ‘No Mas’!
All part of the Obama plan.
I wonder how much interest Soros has in the Spanish oil company?
The GOP trots this story out every two years, before the election.
It's clear that you're not much brighter than Sheila Lee Jackson, Bill. Just because you don't believe in national borders and sovereignty doesn't mean the Castro brothers don't.
Obama, G.W. Bush, Clinton, G.H.W. Bush and Reagan were all opposed to drilling off the Florida Keys and Castro favors it.
How much longer must we endure this obvious treason??
As a Florida voter, I will do my best to replace this fool, Bill Nelson, in 2012.
Unfortunately we have fools of our own to deal with here in CO. The disease has spread to all members of the body politic.
Castro, China, 0’b say ‘’piss on Floridas beachs’’. 0’b says ‘’what color, what color, boss?’’
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