Environmental activists are angry, while Florida Democrats more mixed in discussing President Obama's announcement today to allow for drilling along the eastern Gulf of Mexico as part of his plan to open up a total of 167 million along the Atlantic coastline and the north coast of Alaska.
In his speech this morning, Obama said it was time to transcend the traditional differences on an issue like offshore drilling:
So the answer is not drilling everywhere all the time. But the answer is not, also, for us to ignore the fact that we are going to need vital energy sources to maintain our economic growth and our security. Ultimately, we need to move beyond the tired debates of the left and the right, between business leaders and environmentalists, between those who would claim drilling is a cure all and those who would claim it has no place. Because this issue is just too important to allow our progress to languish while we fight the same old battles over and over again.
Activists are unhappy. On her Facebook page, Hillsborough Democrat Susan Smith wrote,"Obama: Maybe if I cave to the oil industry on near-beach drilling, the GOP will like me, they'll really really like me."
Carol Browner is the Assistant to the President for Energy and Climate Change, is a Florida native who formerly served as the state's secretary of the environment. On a conference call, she denied accusations by environmentalists in Florida that she was selling out, saying, "I am fully supportive …my responsibilities are national…This 125 mile area of protections that this includes is significant and will insure that Florida beaches remain clean and they have all the opportunies they have today, and I’m very supportive."
Florida's Chief Financial Officer and gubernatorial candidate Alex Sink said she was copacetic with the plan, saying,
"While I support additional offshore exploration 125 miles from Florida's coasts, I have long been opposed to the near-beach drilling proposal currently in the Florida legislature that puts our tourism economy at risk."
This article appears in Mar 31 – Apr 6, 2010.