Information Circular 107


committee to study legislation of other states.
The two committees worked together, with
advice from the Interstate Oil Compact
Commission, to prepare what was to become the
first conservation law. The 1945 legislature saw
the introduction of this conservation law and
several other related oil bills. The bills included:
 1. The conservation law.
 2. A bill to ratify the Interstate Oil Compact
 and to make Florida a member of the Inter-
 state Oil Compact Commission.
 3. A bill for taxation of oil and gas produced
 in Florida.
 4. A state lease law.
 Unexpected opposition arose to all of the oil
bills; this time from the cities along the west
coast of Florida. They were not opposed to the
subject matter of the oil legislation, but wanted
provisions to be inserted in all the proposed bills
that would ensure protection of the Florida west
coast beaches from pollution and "unsightly
operations." Their concerns were not
environmental but rather economic. They
contended that oil operations might "destroy the
beauty of the west coast and do irreparable
damage to the tourist trade."
 Newspapers of these cities "clamored" for
 beach protection. Amendments were adopted
 which addressed this issue and were made a
 part of Florida's conservation bill. After six years
 of effort, a law providing for the conservation of
 oil and gas in Florida was finally passed and
 signed by the Governor on June 5, 1945
 (Chapter 22819-No. 305, Laws of Florida, 1945).
 The bill to ratify the Interstate Oil Compact and
 make Florida a member of the Interstate Oil
 Compact Commission (Chapter 22823-No. 270,
 Laws of Florida, 1945) and the state lease law
 (Chapter 22824-No. 310, Law of Florida, 1945)
 were also passed by the 1945 legislature.
 The conservation law:
 1. Prohibited the waste of oil or gas.
 2. Set up the State Board of Conservation and
 gave them the authority to:
 a. administer and enforce the Conservation
 Act,
 b. adopt necessary rules and regulations,


 c. establish drilling units, and
 d. regulate production procedures as nec-
 essary to prevent waste.
 3. Set penalties for violations.
 4. Restricted drilling on or near improved
 beaches or municipalities.
 A taxation law was not passed until the next
legislative session. The oil and gas taxation act
(Chapter 22784-No. 270, Laws of Florida, 1947)
became law without the Governor's approval and
was filed in the Secretary of State's office June 3,
1947.

 Early Rules and Regulations

 The first rules regulating oil and gas
exploration and production were adopted in 1946
(Section 115-B-2.05, Florida Administrative Code
(F.A.C.)). There was no mention in the rules of
environmental concerns. As discussed
previously, the statutory protection for improved
beaches was enacted in response to an
economic issue. Primarily, the rules were written
to "... prevent waste of oil or gas ..."
 Rule revisions in 1949 (Gunter, 1950), 1962
and 1963 (Babcock, 1964) were procedural in
nature and did not include environmental
concerns. The 1949 and 1962 revisions added
provisions for the temporary abandonment of
wells and defined an abandoned well. The 1963
revision changed the time for supplying the Oil
and Gas Section of the Division of Geology with
electrical logs and other surveys made in the
drilling of a well from six months to ninety days. It
also provided that the State Board of
Conservation would keep information confidential
for a period not exceeding one year from the
date the information is filed, unless exceptional
hardship was proven.


 Early Offshore Geophysical Permitting

 In 1963, the first five offshore geophysical
 permits were granted by the State Board of
 Conservation (Babcock, 1964). In 1965, a