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Business Title: Gov. Crist Calls Oil Spill A Reason To Rethink Drilling The oil spill spreading across the Gulf of Mexico is sending ripples through Florida and national politics, giving Gov. Charlie Crist a reason to rethink his support for offshore drilling. Crist, who plans to chopper out from Pensacola to look at the Louisiana-based rig slick heading toward Florida's beaches, told reporters Tuesday that any politician who backs drilling off the Florida coast should reconsider it in light of what's happened. "If this doesn't give somebody pause, there's something wrong," Crist said. "This is, as I understand it, a pretty new rig with modern technology. As I've always said it would need to be far enough, clean enough and safe enough. I'm not sure this was far enough. I'm pretty sure it was not clean enough. And it doesn't sound like it was safe enough. It's not a great situation." The oil, which has been oozing out at a rate estimated at 42,000 gallons a day, is coming from the site of the Deepwater Horizon rig, owned by the world's largest offshore drilling contractor, Transocean Inc. Federal officials say a flight over the oil spill Monday afternoon found there was a 600-mile circumference rainbow sheen with areas of emulsified crude approximately 36 miles offshore the coast of Louisiana. Deepwater Horizon exploded about 11 p.m. on April 20 and later sank. Eleven members of the 126-member crew remain missing and are presumed dead. The cause of the explosion at the rig, which was under contract to BP, remains under investigation. Efforts to close off the leak using robot submarines have so far failed. Other options for ending the leak could take longer -- up to three months. The marshes of southern Louisiana and Mississippi appear to face the most immediate risk from the spill because they are closest to it, oceanographers say. However, if the leaking oil drifts far enough east to get caught in the gulf's powerful loop current, it could wind up coating beaches in the Florida Keys and then be swept north along the state's Atlantic coast. Skimming vessels worked at removing the slick from the surface, after choppy weather over the weekend prevented them from working — another point that retired Florida State University oceanographer Wilton "Tony" Sturges said should be emphasized. "The 'drill, baby, drill' people always say that if something bad happens, they can come out and clean it up quickly," he said. But in this case, even weather that was slightly less than ideal prevented them from working, he pointed out. Meanwhile airplanes are spraying a chemical dispersant into the water to break up the slick. "Great!" Sturges said. "That means that they've added one more pollutant to the water." The disaster has proven to be prime political fodder for opponents of drilling such as Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., who has already called for an investigation into claims by the offshore drilling industry that drilling in the gulf is safe. Meanwhile New Jersey Democratic Sens. Robert Menendez and Frank Lautenberg issued a joint statement calling into question the credibility of safety claims by the oil industry for its expanded shoreline drilling effort. Their letter, citing government figures, say that since 2006 there have been 509 fires on rigs in the gulf, resulting in at least two fatalities and 12 serious injuries -- all prior to Deepwater Horizon. According to the Houston Chronicle, only two of those fires led to financial penalties for the companies operating the rigs. Those totaled only $110,000. "Big Oil has perpetuated a dangerous myth that coastline drilling is a completely safe endeavor, but accidents like this are a sober reminder just how far that is from the truth," the two senators said. However, White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said that President Obama is still sticking to his plan to open up part of the eastern gulf and areas of the Atlantic seaboard to oil drilling. Legislative efforts to open up the state's waters beyond 3 miles out to drilling had already been put off until next year. Drilling opponents say the Deepwater Horizon accident shows that any such bill should be permanently buried. "The lesson for Florida's legislative leaders is that it's not a matter of 'whether' there will be another accident or spill but 'when,' " said Mark Ferrulo of Progress Florida. "If Tuesday's oil rig accident happened in the same exact manner, within 3 to 10 miles of our coast, it's very likely that we'd have pictures of oil soaked coastlines splashed on front pages and televisions across the country."
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#1. To: Brian S (#0)
Does anybody have any pictures of St. Sarah out cleaning things up, or was no one willing to pay her $100,000 appearance fee?
Tamer than our 2000 election cycle. - Political Expert Badeye on Iraq election that has left over 50 dead so far
Just another example showing why Crist's political career is over.
I can see NOVEMBER from my House....
Do nothing whiner.
I spend more time on FB than anywhere else on the web these days .... badeye
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