Phil Lewis: The line that will forever change the Gulf

The way we understand it, Southwest Florida's fate when it comes to offshore oil and natural gas drilling rests with some guy out in California — Richard W. Pombo.

U.S. Rep. Pombo, a Republican, is chairman of the House Resources Committee, which will one day soon draw a line off Florida's Gulf Coast. Drilling will be allowed on the west side of the line and forbidden on the east side.

(That's sort of the way Washington works. The keys to our Interstate 75 needs are held by a guy up in Alaska — U.S. Rep. Don Young, chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee.) U.S. Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart of Miami, who met with the Daily News Editorial Board this past week, says there's been talk up in Washington that the line might be drawn as close as 3 miles off the beach, although 7 miles, 20 miles, 125 miles and 200 miles have been discussed as well.

Both the House and Senate would have to approve any line that is drawn, but right now Pombo holds the pencil and the map.

Diaz-Balart, a Republican who represents eastern Collier County, says the large and united Florida delegation in Congress has been able to renew an annual moratorium on oil drilling off the Gulf Coast for a number of years. That annual moratorium provision expires next year, meaning a line will be drawn.

Stepped-up cries for America to kick its foreign oil habit and $3-a-gallon pump prices are cutting into the Florida delegation's ability to block Gulf drilling.

Diaz-Balart put it this way: The congressman from Alabama, the one in Alaska and one in Arkansas don't care as much about blocking drilling off Florida's coast now that oil is $70 a barrel.

Meanwhile, Pombo has a vision of tapping American ingenuity to eliminate the need for foreign oil in less than 20 years.

He thinks we can produce an astonishing amount of domestic oil — 89 billion barrels — by perfecting oil recovery techniques. This is done by injecting carbon dioxide into mature oil fields to tap unreachable deposits.

He also is encouraging production of natural gas hydrates found in oil shale. Those deposits, Pombo says, hold far greater supplies of natural gas than exist in conventional U.S. resources.

"Taking a collective look at the amount of oil and natural gas we could produce from these unconventional sources, the energy locked in our deep ocean waters and the trillions of barrels of oil in our oil shale reserves, I know these resources can help North America become energy independent by 2025," Pombo says. "We must tap American ingenuity to make the unconventional energy of today the conventional energy of tomorrow." Note Pombo's use of "deep ocean waters." The Gulf is not an ocean nor is it that deep.

Can we take that as encouragement that when the line is drawn, it will be far, far, far from the coast? Time will tell.

There are a few other encouraging factors for those who hope never to see oil platforms sprouting in our Gulf waters.

First, our governor has a brother in the White House. President Bush would have to sign any bill that comes out of Congress.

Second, our other congressman, Connie Mack IV, has experience negotiating with Pombo. Diaz-Balart says Mack at one time had Pombo agreeing not to draw the line any closer than 200 miles.

Third, and perhaps, most significant, according to Diaz-Balart, is Pombo's deep, abiding respect for states' rights.

"He's a huge states' rights guy," Diaz-Balart said. "We will win the day or lose the day depending on if we can convince enough people that Florida should control its own destiny." That might surprise those of us who thought it was all about the health of the Gulf, our beaches, the Everglades and the threat to tourism. If states' rights wins the day, so be it.