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Is China behind the offshore drilling push in Florida?
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Oil from an offshore spill pollutes the beach.
Ever since the notorious “drill here, drill now” campaign slogan made famous in last year’s presidential election by vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin, momentum has been growing amongst oil and gas lobbyists hoping to overturn the decades old congressional offshore drilling moratorium. Their main goal right now? Opening up the Florida coastline as close as 3 miles to Gulf beaches and as close as 10 miles from the Atlantic shore.
One question that has been looming over the push to drill is: where exactly is the funding coming from? Currently, the mysterious group Florida Energy Associates has chosen not to disclose its funding source for the more than 30 industry lobbyists currently working under its guise. Southern Strategy Group lobbyist David Rancourt recently remarked at a symposium on offshore drilling that those in the oil and gas industry currently “choose to remain anonymous." However, the public is assured that the group is made up of concerned Americans. They believe that folks like Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and OPEC benefit if we don’t find a reliable domestic supply for our own energy needs. Instead, they argue, we’d keep sending them millions of dollars each month.
But recently, another potential source of funding and pressure to lift the drilling ban has been outed. Apparently China has been negotiating with Statoil, a company that currently holds leases in the Gulf of Mexico. Back in 2005, the Chinese company CNOOC (China National Offshore Oil Corporation) was unsuccessful at negotiating an $18.5 billion deal with US Company Unocal after powerful domestic political opposition in the United States over the sale of strategic assets to China.
However, with the slow economy and current credit crunch slowing down offshore oil exploration, strong opposition to Chinese investors is less likely now, the Wall Street Journal reported in October. Subsequently, CNOCC has managed to broker a deal with Statoil and will be acquiring a 20 percent stake in some of Statoil’s Gulf leases. This creates a potential backdoor for the Chinese to begin purchasing up new leases as close as 3 miles to Florida's shores if the moratorium is lifted.
The shadowy group FEA and Florida legislators who are in on the deal should fully disclose their funding sources, lest the citizens of the Sunshine State begin to think their elected officials are open to the idea of selling Florida’s beaches to China.
This is the second in a series of articles on the ongoing offshore drilling debate. To read more, click here.
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