Nelson brings oil fight to Panhandle

There comes a time when common sense needs to take the reins away from greed. It appears that Florida Senator Bill Nelson is again trying to grab those reins.

"I don’t think Florida should have to trash its coastline and its $65 billion economy just so big oil can increase its profit margin," Nelson said in a statement. He planned to stop this morning at the Florida Aquarium in Tampa before heading to Tallahassee, Panama City and Pensacola on Monday.

According to an article from Florida Trend, The Aquarium is "home to some of the state’s marine life from the common to the most rare. He chose the aquarium in part because it showcases the richness of Florida’s environment and way of life that will face destruction from offshore drilling in the Gulf."

Nelson, who has fought against drilling in the Gulf, spoke by phone with Florida Governor Charlie Crist about the proposed drilling. Nelson has said that he "will not only argue environmental damage but also a national security angle," stating that drilling will reduce "the last remaining unfettered training range" for military pilots.

"The operative policy and law of the United States is to use much of the eastern Gulf of Mexico as the last remaining training range for our military pilots," he said. "Give that up to the oil boys and you sacrifice national security."

Might I add this: Right on, Bill. Florida needs all the voices of reason we can muster.


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Information for this article was taken from both Florida Trend and TampaBay.com's The Buzz. To read more on this, please check out Florida Trend at http://floridatrend.com/article.asp?aID=51240, as well as TampaBay.com's The Buzz at http://blogs.tampabay.com/buzz/bill_nelson/.