Oil and gas industry comes up short again in battle to inventory reserves off Florida's coast

"I think we floated it out there and we lost," said Tom Michels, spokesman for the National Ocean Industries Association, a group of more than 300 members and companies pushing for offshore oil and gas development. "It did not get the kind of support that I hoped it would."

All but one of Florida's congressional delegates and more than 200 other members of the House opposed the plan, which would have called on the Interior Department to conduct a six-month study of resources off the nation's coastlines that include the Gulf of Mexico. The inventory was removed from several incarnations of the bill but was consistently reinserted at the behest of Republican leaders guiding the energy bill through Congress.

Celebration on Monday was muted at best, with one congressional leader of the fight against the inventory simply gearing up for what could be another round of battles next year, when the proposal could be brought up either as part of a spending bill or in a separate form of legislation.

"If it isn't in this bill, it will be in another one," Rep. Porter Goss, R-Sanibel, said vowing that the Florida delegation will keep watch on the issue. "This is eternal vigilance. This is your neighborhood watch committee."

Michels would not speculate on the future approach of the industry but did say that "until me and my colleagues here do our job a little better and get the true facts before people, I think we're going to have trouble getting these kinds of decisions through."

The public needs to have all the data an inventory would provide to make an informed decision on how the nation will get the energy it needs to run its cars and homes, he said.

"By simply cutting off the option, people are really cutting off their nose to spite their face," Michels said.

But drilling opponents espoused a different nose clich, arguing the commencement of an inventory would be the proverbial nose under the camel's tent that would lead to drilling right off the shore that could potentially ruin the state's tourism-dependent economy.

Goss speculated the drilling inventory will have huge ramifications at the polls next year, with most federal candidates in Florida -- including presidential hopefuls -- expected to be asked to protect the state's long-standing ban on drilling.

That ban, imposed by Congress in 1982 and followed by two presidential moratoriums that run until 2012, was one of the rationales Gov. Jeb Bush used in 2001 to stop an effort to drill off the coast. He reached a compromise that allowed drilling in a 1.5-million-acre zone about 25 miles south of Pensacola in exchange for a freeze on drilling 100 miles off the shoreline until 2012.

Environmental groups believe that type of decision could become increasingly difficult for the governor to make under another provision remaining in the energy bill that they believe removes one of his main tools in fighting drilling.

The changes proposed for the Coastal Zone Management Act, argues Mark Ferrulo of the Florida Public Interest Research Group, place an "onerous timetable" and restrict the state's ability to have input on oil drilling decisions made in areas where companies have active leases.

That provision, among a host of others he deems troubling, lead Ferrulo to characterize the energy bill "an environmental nightmare" that he hopes Florida Sens. Bob Graham and Bill Nelson oppose.

Graham has already said he will vote against the entire bill, saying a pro vote "would be a disservice to the nation and could deceive the American people into thinking it represents a comprehensive national energy policy."

The measure could hit the Senate floor as early as this week.