By FRANCES COLEMAN
The Press-Register

MOBILE, Ala. — I haven't got anything against the residents of Florida and California. They seem like friendly folks.

But as a resident of the Central Gulf Coast, I have to ask: Where do they get off, insisting that their beaches should be protected from the evils of oil and gas drilling and production?

We enjoy no such exemption on the coast of Alabama. Drilling rigs are a fact of life here as well as off the coasts of Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas.

The rigs provide jobs, tax revenue and assorted other economic activity in the four states. And, of course, they provide oil and gas for the whole country.

In fact, the federal Minerals Management Service says the Gulf of Mexico accounts for about 25 percent of domestic crude oil production and about 15 percent of the nation's natural gas output.

Imagine what a pickle the United States would be in if it weren't for all that drilling. Four-dollar-a-gallon gasoline would sound like a bargain.

Alabama has been well-acquainted with offshore drilling since the late 1970s, when energy companies began tapping natural gas reserves in waters near Gulf Shores and historic Fort Morgan.

During those 30 years or so, there have been no major accidents associated with the drilling operations — no lives lost, no beaches despoiled, no tourism industry damaged.

Accidents are always possible, however. Drilling is a dangerous and environmentally challenging business.

We on the Gulf Coast don't like to think about rig or refinery explosions, pipeline leaks or oily beaches, but we understand that even with the best safety measures in place, such things could happen.

What we don't understand is why we are expected to shoulder all the environmental and economic risks of exploration and production, while other coastal states — California, Florida and the entire Eastern Seaboard — get to say "no, thank you" to offshore drilling.

They are supported by a federal moratorium that dates back to 1981, when lawmakers from the East and West Coasts rallied to protect their pristine beaches, delicate wetlands and prized wildlife.

Nobody rallied to halt or lessen the amount of drilling off the Gulf Coast. Are our beaches, wetlands and wildlife somehow less pristine, less delicate, less to be prized?

Where's our guarantee of an uncluttered view of the horizon?

There isn't one. From numerous vantage points, Gulf Coast tourists and residents can see drilling rigs in the distance. God forbid that somebody in Palm Beach or San Francisco would have to endure a similar sight.

Funny how people in other coastal states don't mind using the products generated by Gulf of Mexico exploration — from gasoline and home heating oil to diesel fuel, plastics, fertilizer, even women's panty hose.

I guess if you don't have to look at rigs and platforms or run the risk of an environmentally destructive accident, then you don't have to worry about what might happen down on the Gulf Coast. It's not your shoreline, wetlands or tourism industry at stake if something goes wrong.

I might sound like a dumb redneck if I were to suggest that the states that won't share the risks associated with offshore drilling shouldn't share in the rewards of oil and gas production. So I won't.

But do pardon me if I can't help but take a teensy bit of pleasure at the sight of Floridians and Californians coming to grips with the fact that the Gulf of Mexico can't produce enough oil and natural gas to keep fuel prices low enough to suit them.

As we in the South like to say when hard times befall other folks, bless their hearts.