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Trying to encourage more oil production in Florida, a House panelTuesday approved a proposal that would offer a tax incentive fortapping old wells in Southwest Florida and the Panhandle. Sponsor Matt Hudson, R-Naples, said HB 87 seeks to "rejuvenate" oilfields that were discovered decades ago but have been abandoned. Atleast in some cases, he said, active wells are operating near theabandoned sites. "If producers decide to tap into those abandoned wells, withoutquestion it will create jobs,' Hudson told the House Energy andUtilities Subcommittee, which voted 10-4 for the proposal. One of the dissenters, Rep. Jeff Clemens, D-Lake Worth, said he hadquestions about where the abandoned wells are located and thepotential environmental effects of tapping them. Though drawing relatively little attention, Florida has long hadoil production in the northwest Panhandle and in parts of SouthwestFlorida. A House staff analysis said the Panhandle fields producedabout 1 million barrels of oil in 2010, while the Southwest Floridafields produced about 775,000 barrels. Hudson's bill would target fields that were discovered before 1981and that would begin producing oil after July 1, 2012. It would not lead to offshore oil drilling, a highly controversialissue in Florida. Earlier this year, Republican presidentialcandidate Michele Bachmann drew criticism when she raised theprospect of opening up the Everglades to oil drilling, thoughbackers of the idea noted that it wasn't that far from some of thedrilling already going on in Southwest Florida. The House analysis says 16 oil fields were discovered in Floridabefore 1981, with seven of them plugged and abandoned. Five ofthose abandoned fields are in the southwest part of the state. Florida has an 8 percent severance tax on oil production, thoughsome producers pay lower rates based on factors such as whetherwells are small. Hudson's bill would offer varying tax rates for producing in theabandoned fields. The rate would be 1 percent on the value of oilthat is $60 and below per barrel; 7 percent on the value between$60 and $80; and 9 percent on the value above $80. We are high quality suppliers, our products such as Kitchen Skirting Board Manufacturer , Skirting Boards Profiles for oversee buyer. To know more, please visits Kitchen Cupboard Skirting.
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