Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill Threatens Support for Climate Legislation

The oil spreading from the Gulf of Mexico rig destroyed by a recent explosion has become the latest controversy dogging climate and energy legislation being readied by Sens. John F. Kerry, D-Mass., and Joseph I. Lieberman, ID-Conn, the New York Times reported today. The bill's third co-author, Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., continued to insist he would stay on the sidelines if the legislation were not scheduled for consideration ahead of immigration reform.

The legislation, which had been set for a public unveiling on Monday, but was delayed by Graham's shift, was said to include expanded offshore drilling for natural gas and oil. As a result, Florida Gov. Charlie Crist has backed away from his support for offshore drilling, the Miami Herald reported today. After a flight over the oil spill, Crist said: "Clearly it could be devastating to Florida if something like that were to occur. It's the last thing in the world I would want to see happen in our beautiful state."

The Herald wrote: "He said there is no question now that lawmakers should give up on the idea of drilling off Florida's coast this year and in coming years. He had said previously that he would support drilling if it was far enough from shore, safe enough and clean enough. He said the spill is proof that that is not possible."

Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., said a "thorough investigation of the industry's safety practices" was necessary, the Times wrote, noting that he had pressed the Obama administration to "extend the coastal buffer zone off Florida to 125 miles from 75 miles. Now he said he was not certain that even that was enough margin for safety." Nelson was quoted as saying: "The tragedy off the coast of Louisiana shows we need to be asking a lot more tough questions of Big Oil. We need to look back over 10 years or so to see if the record denies the industry's claims about safety and technology."

The Times wrote that "several other coastal-state senators whose votes could be crucial to passage of climate legislation have expressed concerns about the safety and environmental impacts. The Times named Sens Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I.; Frank R. Lautenberg, D-N.J.; Benjamin L. Cardin, D-Md., Barbara A. Mikulski, D-Md.; Mark Warner, D-Va.; Kay Hagan, D-N.C.; and George LeMieux, R-Fla. Sen. Robert Menendez, D-N.J., was quoted as saying: "I have been an advocate of climate change legislation, but I'm going to have a real problem if we have drilling as I've heard it. Unless there is the ability for neighboring states to have some type of veto in the process, unless there's some serious environmental consideration before any drilling takes place, unless there are very significant buffer zones, I'm going to have a hard time at the end of the day supporting this legislation."

Kerry said EPA would study the possible economic impacts in a draft of the legislation he was sending the agency, Reuters reported. Kerry was quoted as saying: "We are sending the bill to be modeled now with Lindsey Graham's consent." Asked if the bill would be unveiled without Graham, Kerry said: "We're not even thinking about that."