WASHINGTON (AP) – The government indicated Wednesday that it plans to open a large area of the eastern Gulf of Mexico to oil and gas leasing despite strong opposition from Florida officials.

The Interior Department’s leasing proposal would encompass two-thirds of an area known as Lease 181, while continuing to ban oil and gas developing in waters within 100 miles of the Florida coast.

President Bush in 2001 assured Florida officials, including his brother, Gov. Jeb Bush, that the Lease 181 area would be protected at least through this year. The new proposal, expected to become final this year, would cover the 2007-2012 leasing period.

Separately, the department expressed continued interest in possibly opening waters off Virginia to gas drilling. Congress would have to come up with an arrangement whereby the state would seek permission to develop the offshore area. It is now part of a broad freeze on coastal drilling.

The Lease 181 area has a potential to provide more than 5 trillion cubic feet of natural gas as well as oil. Florida’s strong opposition has stymied development for years.

The draft proposal from the department’s Minerals Management Service outlines the government’s offshore oil and gas leasing plans for the next five years.

The Clinton administration had proposed developing the 6 million acre Lease 181 area. This area is not included in a drilling freeze that has put off limits to energy development almost all the U.S. coastline outside the western Gulf.

In 2001, Bush acted to keep most of the eastern Gulf area free from development, at least temporarily. He did open to drilling a small part of Lease 181 that is farthest away from Florida.

The plan announced Wednesday would permit drilling in the “bulge” area of the Lease 181 area, all of which lies at least 100 miles from Florida’s coast.

An area known as the “stovepipe” because it juts northward close to the Florida Panhandle would remain off limits to oil and gas companies.

Florida’s senators, Republican Mel Martinez and Democrat Bill Nelson, oppose the department’s plan. They have introduced legislation that would allow some development of the Lease 181 area, but impose additional restrictions, including assurances that future development would not encroach any closer to Florida waters.

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