Washington ? President Bush on Wednesday blocked efforts to erect drilling rigs off sugary Florida Panhandle beaches and among cypress stands fringing the Everglades, announcing two landmark deals to buy back oil and gas rights for $235 million.

“Florida is known worldwide for its beautiful coastal waters and the Everglades,” the president said during a White House ceremony attended by his brother, Florida Gov. Jeb Bush. “Today, we are acting to preserve both.”

The agreements also have broader implications, giving Jeb Bush a campaign boost and bolstering the president’s image in a state key to his re-election hopes as well.

Asked if a deal sponsored by his brother would help him politically, Gov. Bush responded: “I hope so. But more importantly, it is good public policy. And when there’s a convergence of good politics and good policy, I don’t think we should be ashamed about it.”

The announcement earned the administration something it has rarely heard while pursuing a national energy policy to open vast new wilderness areas to exploration: gushes of praise from environmentalists, particularly in Florida, where anti-rig sentiment runs deep across political party lines.

“This will go down as one of the great environmental victories for Florida,” said Mark Ferrulo, director of the Florida Public Interest Research Group, which has fought growing pressure from oil and gas companies to tap into rich reserves in the Gulf of Mexico.

The two deals are different but effectively block the most immediate drilling prospects in Florida in the sprawling Big Cypress National Preserve in southwest Florida and in the Destin Dome, about 25 miles off pristine Panhandle beaches in the Gulf of Mexico.

The Big Cypress deal seals seven years of federal efforts to negotiate with the powerful Collier family for mineral rights in the preserve, a key part of the Everglades system, the strangled River of Grass the state and federal governments are shelling out some $8 billion to revive.

“This agreement is a win for all sides,” said Interior Secretary Gale Norton, whose agency negotiated both complex deals. “The Collier area the Big Cypress Preserve is home to endangered species like the red-cockaded woodpecker, the crocodile, the manatee and the Florida panther. It is an area that is especially sensitive.”

Interior will pay about $120 million to two Collier companies for oil and gas exploration rights under about 400,000 acres in the Big Cypress National Preserve, the Florida Panther National Wildlife Refuge and the Ten Thousand Islands National Wildlife Refuge.

The Colliers also have agreed to suspend plans to begin as many as 26 new exploratory wells. Nine existing oil rigs are not affected.

Some terms remain to be worked out. The compensation could be in cash or in bidding credits for future oil and gas leases elsewhere, which the Colliers could use or sell. Congress also must give final approval to the agreement.

In addition, if the rights are eventually assessed for additional money, the Colliers could benefit with tax breaks, subject to Internal Revenue Service review, by donating the excess value to the federal government.

Miles Collier, grandson of patriarch Barron G. Collier, namesake of Collier County, said the family had seen public and political sentiment swing against oil drilling. The Colliers had pursued numerous federal deals for the rights, including a failed land swap for surplus land at Homestead Air Force Base.

“When there’s sort of an overwhelming groundswell that basically says, ‘Gee, we really would rather you didn’t do this,’ then we look for another way,” he said.

In the offshore deal, the federal government will pay $115 million to buy back nine leases in the “Destin Dome” natural offshore gas field in the Gulf of Mexico near Pensacola, using proceeds from lawsuits to make the payments. Two remaining offshore leases, held by Murphy Oil, will be suspended for a decade and the state and federal governments also will retain broad veto rights.

The leases are owned by Conoco Inc., Murphy Oil Corp., and the ChevronTexaco Corp., which was closest to establishing the first full-fledged rig off Florida.

Bush hailed the deal as a backbreaker for an oil industry that has been pressing for decades to expand into Florida’s coastal waters.

“Effectively, off the shorelines of Florida, there will be no drilling,” Bush said.

Sen. Bob Graham, while praising the deals, said some 99 leases remained active or in litigation in the Eastern Gulf.

“This is a step in the right direction, but today’s developments should be a starting point to permanently end future drilling off Florida’s Gulf Coast,” Graham said.

Environmentalists, while pleased with the end result, questioned the motivation.

Phil Clapp, president of the National Environmental Trust, was less diplomatic, calling the agreement a “$235 million campaign contribution to the Re-Elect Jeb Bush Committee, courtesy of U.S. taxpayers.”

As U.S. consumers face possible disruptions of foreign oil supplies, possibly triggered by Middle East upheaval, the Bush administration has increased emphasis on domestic oil production, most notably targeting the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska. California also is battling proposals for new offshore drilling.

Norton said environmental considerations were paramount.

“There are things that can be done in Alaska to ensure that production is taking place in an environmentally sound way that cannot be done in Florida,” she said. “For example, ice roads are not particularly successful in Florida.”