Welcome to

While the debate rages over how much oil remains from the BP oil spill and what the long term impacts will be, lawyers and scientists are looking at the future of offshore drilling. Florida State University is hosting a lecture about the future of oil drilling in the Gulf of Mexico. As Whitney Ray tells us, most agree drilling will continue. The question left to answer: can it be done safely?

A little more than a month ago, oysterman Ricky Banks worried about the BP oil leak destroying his career. Today he’s back on his boat and still supports offshore oil drilling.

“Environmentalists is one of the reasons this has happened, because they can’t drill in shallow enough water to be able to contain this,” said Banks.

About half the voters in Florida stand with Ricky. And while environmentalists hope that we can keep Florida’s coast clear of oil rigs, the truth is we’re still decades, if not generations, away from breaking our dependence on oil.”

So the question may not be if oil production in the Gulf of Mexico will be expanded, but how? FSU Dr. Felicia Coleman says the BP spill shined a light on what needs to be changed.

“It give the federal government an opportunity to really review the regulatory structure, there may have been plenty there, but some of it like the environmental impact statements are simply not sufficient,” said Coleman.

And even supporters of expanded drilling efforts, like the Associated Industries of Florida, agree renewable energy sources need to improve as well.

“Do we need a greener future? Absolutely. And is that the direction we all want to go in? It is. But we have to recognize for the next generation of two, we are going to have to depend on fossil fuels because that’s the only thing that we have right now,” said AIF President Barney Bishop.

FSU Researchers are asking citizens to get informed and involved in the drilling conversation so they’ll be better prepared to hold the decision makers accountable.

The lecture is being held tonight at 7:00 at FSU’s Marine Laboratory in St. Theresa. FSU researchers are also heavily involved in determining the long term impact of the spill in an effort to see how panhandle ecosystems will recover.