Key U.S. Senator wants to drill 45 miles off of Florida's Gulf coast

While on the federal level, environmentalists who were steamed at President Obama's announcement last month that he wants to explore drilling within 125 miles of Florida's coast won't be pleased to hear that a powerful Senate Democrat, North Dakota's Byron Dorgan, wants to drill closer.

Dorgan is chairman of the Appropriations Committee's Subcommittee on Energy and Water Development.  He wants a 45-mile buffer zone between oil rigs and the coast, telling the Hill yesterday:

"The estimates are that the 125-mile (buffer) would get about two-thirds of the energy that is there. Those are estimates based on 30-year-old studies. I think a more appropriate one is 45 miles but you know, I commend the president for moving as he's moved and I would hope that we have an opportunity to consider even more," Dorgan said. "A 45-mile zone is a better approach because you get more energy out of that and you still have the proper safeguards for a visual line of sight and so on. But again, I think he's moved in the right direction and I commend him for that."

It will be interesting to see how this plays out.  Republicans like Newt Gingrich and Sarah Palin, you might remember, were not impressed when President Obama made his announcement three weeks ago about calling for offshore drilling, saying his overall lack of urgency on the matter means it was  less "drill baby, drill" than "delay, baby, delay."