Offshore gas rig in Gulf: Will it silence skeptics of drilling?

ON BOARD INDEPENDENCE HUB, Gulf of Mexico – One huge symbol of the nation’s struggle with global warming is a roaring cube of steel that floats in the Gulf of Mexico south of Florida’s Panhandle.

As big as a 30-story building, it’s an offshore rig that plunges an array of pipe and tubes a mile and a half to the frigid bottom of the Gulf. From there, the metallic tentacles spread across a patch of seafloor larger than Rhode Island. Then they bore more than a mile into sand, rock and incredibly rich pockets of natural gas.

“We have some wells that are just unbelievable,” said senior engineer Bob Buck of Anadarko Petroleum Corp., the rig operator.

That places the offshore platform, 164 miles south of Pensacola, among the potential and difficult choices over how best to solve the problem of the planet’s rapidly rising temperatures.

Floridians from many walks of life long have made clear how they detest the idea of offshore drillers invading what the state regards as its share of the Gulf of Mexico. Only last month, state legislators debated a proposal to generate dollars, jobs and greater energy security by permitting rigs within sight of beaches. Caught off guard, a coalition of environmentalists rallied within hours to attack the idea.

Yet natural gas is prized by environmentalists and industry alike, as it contributes far less to global warming than fossil-fuel cousins oil and coal. As such, it’s expected to help rescue Florida’s treasured coastal environments from rising sea levels caused by climate changes.

Orlando Sentinel