FOR IMMEDIATE
RELEASE: November
15, 2002
Judge Favors State In
Offshore Lease Case
-- Final
judgment vindicates permit denial --
TALLAHASSEE - Today,
a circuit judge issued a final ruling in favor of the
State of Florida supporting actions by the Florida
Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) to require,
and deny, a permit to conduct offshore drilling by Coastal
Petroleum Company. Judge J. Ralph Smith formally rejected
claims from Coastal who argued that the permit denial
amounted to a “taking” of their property.
“Florida’s waters and
beaches are better protected today with this decision,”
said DEP Secretary David B. Struhs. “The court’s
support of the state’s denial of a permit to drill for
oil in the Gulf of Mexico is a win for both taxpayers and
the environment.”
In today’s Final Judgment,
Judge Smith found that DEP’s refusal to issue a permit
allowing Coastal to drill on offshore leases met the terms
of a 1976 agreement between the State and Coastal. In that
agreement, Coastal agreed to secure all necessary and
current environmental permits before boring any wells. The
State successfully argued that the environmental threat
from drilling outweighs any potential benefit from oil
found in the three-mile lease area located just six miles
from the Florida coastline.
The lease area held by
Coastal is in two tracts stretching from the eastern
panhandle to the shores near Naples. Earlier this year,
the federal government agreed to purchase all remaining
active oil and gas leases within 100 miles from the coast
of Florida. In 2001, Governor Bush persuaded the
Department of the Interior to reduce the size of Lease
Sale 181 by 75 percent, eliminating the possibility of any
new oil and gas leases within 100 miles of Florida’s
coast.
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Press Office
