FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: December 4, 2003
CONTACT: Linda Long, (850) 245-2112
Appeals Court Affirms Decision In
Offshore Lease Case
--Takings claim rejected--
TALLAHASSEE- The First District Court of Appeal upheld
last year’s judgment by Circuit Judge J. Ralph Smith rejecting
claims from Coastal Petroleum Company that the Florida
Department of Environmental Protection’s denial of a permit to
drill for oil in the Gulf of Mexico amounted to a taking of
Coastal’s property.
“Florida’s waters and beaches remain better protected
with this determination,” said DEP Secretary David B. Struhs.
“The court’s decision to support Florida’s case is another
win for both taxpayers and the environment.”
One year ago, Judge Smith found that the Department’s
refusal to issue a permit allowing Coastal to drill on offshore
leases met the terms of a 1976 agreement between the State and
the company. In that agreement, Coastal agreed to secure all
necessary and current environmental permits before boring any
wells. The State denied Coastal’s permit application and
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 state leases held by Coastal are in two tracts stretching
from the eastern panhandle to the shores near Naples. In 2002,
the federal government agreed to purchase all remaining active
federal 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 federal 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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