With exploratory drilling for oil off the Cuban coast possible in the next few months, a Florida Keys task force convened Monday in Marathon to review local response to a spill.</p><p>The Coast Guard's Sector Key West spearheads the Florida Keys Area Contingency Plan, which draws on expertise from 20 federal, state and local agencies, along with some non-profit groups.</p><p>"The plan ensures readiness to respond to any possible oil or hazardous substance that could impact the Florida Keys coastline," says a Coast Guard district summary.</p><p>The Monday session in Marathon was a quarterly update on drilling and spill-response status.</p><p>Among issues reviewed were "a discussion of international offshore drilling response planning efforts." "The conversation [Monday] included potential operations throughout the north Caribbean, including the Bahamas and Cuba," said Lt. Kara Lavin, a Key West Coast Guard information officer. </p><p>Available information suggests exploration drilling in the Cuban Exclusive Economic Zone could "begin in early 2012," Lavin said.</p><p>The Florida Keys Contingency Plan "includes scenarios for potential impact and worst case discharge potential, and is designed to ensure a coordinated response to mitigate any potential environmental impacts," Lavin said.</p><p>Before the Deepwater Horizon spill that leaked an estimated 200 million gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico, most local oil-response plans focused on responding to a spill from a ship.</p><p>In preparing for the possible arrival of Deepwater Horizon oil in the Keys - none apparently reached South Florida - officials realized that assessments of available resources often were incomplete or outdated.</p><p>The Florida Keys Area Contingency Plan now includes regularly updated information from numerous emergency-management and environmental agencies, along with wildlife groups like the Dolphin Research Center and The Turtle Hostital.</p><p>"Lessons learned from the Deep Water Horizon incident are being incorporated into our local Florida Keys Area Contingency Plan and also the [International Offshore Drilling Response Plan]," Lavin said.</p><p>The International Offshore Drilling Response Plan "primarily addresses the conduct of offshore operations in response to a worst-case discharge originating from an offshore source."</p><p>Spanish oil company Repsol will be the first of several foreign companies to explore for oil in the Florida Straits aboard a giant Italian-owned semi-submersible rig constructed in China and Taiwan.</p><p>The $750 million rig, named the Scarabeo 9, is en route to the Cuban coast and is expected to arrive in late December or January.</p><p>Florida U.S. Senators Bill Nelson and Marco Rubio are among congressmen pushing legislation that would hold foreign oil companies directly accountable for oil spills that pollute U.S. territory.