With Oil's Rise, Floridians Shift on Drilling

wsj.com ^ | June 23, 2008 | COREY DADE and STEPHEN POWER

[kellynla]

ST. PETE BEACH, Fla. -- Neighbors Jo Ellen Sharp and Kristin Jenkins stood beside each other after a day on the beach of this barrier island, divided by the thought that Florida's corner of the Gulf of Mexico could some day be dotted by gigantic oil rigs.

This is such a big part of our economy and our lifestyle; nobody is going to come here if there is drilling," said Ms. Sharp, 39 years old, who runs a marketing firm with her husband.

Ms. Jenkins quickly cut in. "Do what you've got to do," the 35-year-old schoolteacher said. "If it's going to help with gas prices, as long as they put it far enough out that we don't see it."

Consumer anger over high gasoline prices is driving a reconsideration of the U.S. ban on coastal drilling for oil and natural gas, even in Florida, where conservation and tourism concerns have long bolstered a bipartisan consensus against offshore production.

Now, there are signs of a shift in sentiment in the state, particularly in large suburban areas that have been hard hit by skyrocketing home insurance, the housing bust and funding cuts, forced by state budget deficits, to schools and other services.

[jrd]

heck just let them pay twice what the rest of the states are paying. It won;t be long before they'll begging to drill’

[prov1813man]

at 50 miles out, don’t think it matters how they are decorated.

[truthguy]

The amount of damage (basically none) to the environment of oil drilling has been greatly exaggerated. Oil Platforms are far out and usually not visible from shore. I have no problems drilling for oil anywhere on the continental shelf. Heck I'd like to see drilling off the Big Sur coast for no other reason than to irritate the jerks that live there.

[SamiGirl]

“...nobody is going to come here if there is drilling,” said Ms. Sharp”

I guess Ms. Sharp ain’t so sharp. And this idiot is running a marketing firm?

[RoadKingSE]

I never understood why those gigantic bird Cuisinarts are so cute and those hardly visible oil well pump heads are so ugly

Cute windmill turns into hunka hunka backyard burnin turbine. And the ANWR idiots are worried about spoiling the pristine tundra.

[television is just wrong]

drill! now

[meyer]

"... nobody is going to come here if there is drilling," said Ms. Sharp, 39 years old, who runs a marketing firm with her husband.

OK, Ms. Not-so-sharp, answer this quiz.... How is anybody going to get 'there' if they can't afford to fuel their car?

[okie01]

OK, Ms. Not-so-sharp, answer this quiz.... How is anybody going to get 'there' if they can't afford to fuel their car?

[kcvl]

I suppose the enviro wackos think these things look better than oil rigs?!

[Rembrandt]

“Make them look like Disney Castles and everyone wins.”

On I-4 between near Mickey world, there’s a very large pair of mouse ears just off the highway. Why not put those on these drilling platforms - Didney would probably pay for those.

[quadrant]

ping

[Rembrandt]

“These hanging chad folks must have very small brains....”
—
I live in Sarasota, FL. I assure you that the Dims around here have microscopic brains, perhaps the size of a grain of sand. If you visit down here and read the Letters section of the paper, you’ll get a quiver up your leg.

[I still care]

“This is such a big part of our economy and our lifestyle; nobody is going to come here if there is drilling,” said Ms. Sharp, 39 years old”

Nobody is going to come here if they can’t afford the gas, Ms. Sharp.

[kcvl]

Birds & wind turbines.

These are supposed to 'environmentally friendly'. I think the birds would beg to differ.

[cquiggy]

How about if we decorate all offshore rigs to look like giant middle fingers. Pointing at all who oppose being free of foreign oil. I suppose all those crybaby enviros think it is safer to ship oil halfway around the globe than bringing it in from fifty miles offshore.

[jwparkerjr]

re: nobody is going to come here if there is drilling

And nobody will be coming to anywhere in Florida if we don’t find a solution to our energy problems.

[Intolerant in NJ]

With Oil's Rise, Floridians Shift on Drilling...Fox News tonight mentioned a recent poll which showed a similar shift in California - by about a 2 to 1 margin residents there now say they want regulations loosened to allow more drilling off their coastline - funny how firmly held "green" values vanish in the air so to speak when the financial strain they impose start to impose on those holding them..........

[kellynla]

"Fox News tonight mentioned a recent poll which showed a similar shift in California - by about a 2 to 1 margin residents there now say they want regulations loosened to allow more drilling off their coastline - funny how firmly held "green" values vanish in the air so to speak when the financial strain they impose start to impose on those holding them"


6/19/2008
http://abclocal.go.com/kfsn/story?section=news/local&id=6214070

[quadrant]

Agreed.

[Intolerant in NJ]

Caught only the tail end of a story today on another poll by maybe Rasmussen showing that even those in New Jersey are now more favorably disposed to offshore drilling - a real seismic shift.......