Florida's Republican administration has had sharp second-thoughts about proposals for oil rigs off its shores. The spreading and intractable oil catastrophe in the Gulf of Mexico has made disbelievers out of what had been staunch believers. From McClatchey:
The oil spill spreading across the Gulf of Mexico is sending ripples through Florida and national politics, giving Gov. Charlie Crist a reason to withdraw his support for offshore drilling.
After a 90-minute plane flight Tuesday above the spill, which was spreading in an 80-by-42-mile blob, Crist said, "Clearly it could be devastating to Florida if something like that were to occur. It's the last thing in the world I would want to see happen in our beautiful state.''
He said there is no question now that lawmakers should give up on the idea of drilling off Florida's coast this year and in coming years. He had said previously that he would support drilling if it were far enough from shore, safe enough and clean enough. He said the spill is proof that that is not possible.
"Clearly that one isn't far enough, and that's about 50 to 60 miles out. It's clearly not clean enough after we saw what we saw today -- that's horrific -- and it certainly isn't safe enough. It's the opposite of safe,'' Crist said.
Earlier in the day the Florida Legislature's main advocate of drilling, incoming House Speaker Dean Cannon, R-Orlando, said the disaster had him asking questions.
"It causes me to want to examine what happened and how it could have been prevented, and we need to figure that out before we make any further decisions,'' said Cannon, who has proposed allowing rigs as close as three miles off Florida's beaches.
I wonder if BC's faux-liberal premier and veteran drunk driver Gordon Campbell is watching and learning. He too has become a recent proponent of offshore drilling in British Columbia's pristine coastal waters, another hack politician willing to roll the dice and gamble BC's ecology for the promise of seabed fossil fuel wealth.
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