Turning Florida Blue
The Pensacola Beach Blogger noticed this opinion piece in the Pensacola News Journal about the Interior Department’s continuing program of not listening to Florida residents when it comes to off-shore drilling.
Florida makes a lot of money from its beaches, more than it would ever make from drilling, and the site of oil rigs is not compatible with tourism. The state is constantly telling the Federal government we don’t want them off the coast of Florida, but corporate interests keep getting Federal attention that the state can’t seem to overcome.
The latest move is to re-draw the maps so that Alabama and Louisiana have jurisdiction over the coastal waters south of the Panhandle. Since those states don’t care about the skyline seen from a Florida beach, they are not apt to object to drilling.
In addition to the visual and pollution possibilities, the oil rigs would encroach on the weapons testing ranges the military uses in the Gulf of Mexico, but those concerns get even less consideration from the current government.
Anyone with ties to tourism or the military in Florida who votes for a Republican is voting against themselves. Having the President’s brother as governor just means the governor makes excuses for bad Federal policy.
2 comments
“Having the President’s brother as governor just means the governor makes excuses for bad Federal policy.”
Well – they NEED to have some *Family Biziness* to fall back on once Old CIC
gets impeachedsteps down from office.*wink*
This issue is the third rail of Florida politics. No one who supports drilling in coastal waters can get elected here.