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Crist Says Offshore Drilling A Possibility
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Published: June 18, 2008
TALLAHASSEE - Gov. Charlie Crist has abandoned his staunch opposition to offshore oil and gas drilling, saying Tuesday that he supports Sen. John McCain's plan to lift the federal moratorium and will weigh the possibility of drilling off Florida's coastline.
Crist said his altered position has nothing to do with McCain's reported consideration of him as a vice presidential candidate. But political opponents were quick to make hay of his comments, deriding him as being "obsessed" with contending for the No. 2 slot on McCain's ticket.
The governor was responding to McCain's announcement Monday that he would call for lifting the federal ban in favor of allowing states to decide themselves whether to allow drilling near their shores. Crist said Tuesday that he would consider drilling nearer to Florida's Gulf coast than federal law currently allows.
"It depends; it's something I would least like to do, but I also understand the economics of what's happening in our country," Crist told reporters at the Capitol on Tuesday.
"What we ought to be willing to do is study it," he said. "Reaching a conclusion about what is right or not right at this juncture is hard to do."
Crist said soaring gas prices are hurting families as well as tourism in Florida.
"What's going through my mind is the fact that we have to be sympathetic to the pocketbooks of the people of Florida and what they're paying for gas," he said. "... I think we owe it to Florida families to at least look at it."
He denied that his position represented a complete about-face, but outraged environmentalists said otherwise.
"It's a huge disappointment, and a big flip-flop," said Mark Ferrulo, director of Progress Florida and past director of Environment Florida. "The reason we don't have rigs off our coast right now is because Florida's leadership has been unified in its opposition. Any major cracks in that wall of opposition could open the floodgates to drillings up and down the coast."
Singing New Songs
Crist and McCain have both changed their tune on drilling this year. When McCain was courting Crist's support last October, the senator said he sympathized with Florida's aversion to oil drilling off the Gulf beaches.
And Crist spoke in his 2007 inauguration speech of having "a common vision" with all Floridians that includes "beautiful beaches and coastlines free of oil drilling."
Asked Tuesday if his current position has anything to do with contending for a slot on McCain's presidential ticket, Crist simply responded "No."
Democrats argued otherwise in a prepared release bearing the headline, "Obsessed with Being VP, Gov Flip Flops on Offshore Drilling."
"If John McCain jumps off a cliff, will Charlie Crist jump, too?" Florida Democratic Party spokesman Mark Bubriski said in the statement.
A lot of politicians are rethinking the drilling issue in the wake of $4-per-gallon gas prices, said Susan MacManus, political scientist at the University of South Florida.
"Of course you have to track it back to Crist's vice presidential aspirations, but I think it's more than that," MacManus said. "It goes to show that all kinds of ideological aspirations go out the window when you are facing the realities of money. The public isn't thinking about anything else right now; even Iraq has fallen down the totem poll. People think about gas prices every single day."
Florida has long supported presidential candidates and governors who oppose offshore drilling.
Crist is playing with political fire by departing from that tradition, said Lance deHaven-Smith, political science professor at Florida State University. "He's risking his popularity, certainly; this has the potential to alienate the traditional moderates he's attracted. This is a very big gamble."
U.S. Rep. Adam Putnam of Bartow disagreed. "The axiom that you have to be against all drilling all the time no matter how far off the shore is not true," he said.
"You need to take affirmative steps to protect the coastline and make sure whatever exploration takes place, takes place in an environmentally sensitive way," said Putnam, the third ranking Republican in the House.
Putnam said he thinks Floridians recognize there is a point offshore where drilling can occur. "Generally speaking, what McCain proposed is a good thing," he said.
U.S. Sen. Mel Martinez, a Republican who usually stands with Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson against drilling, said he wants to hear more about McCain's plan but is leaning toward supporting it.
As Martinez understands it, McCain's plan would protect a 2006 congressional compromise that no new drilling occur within a 125-mile buffer off Florida's Gulf coast. "I think the rest of it is something I can probably live with," Martinez said.
He said a 50-mile buffer elsewhere around Florida's coasts would protect the Florida Keys and the Atlantic side, in part, he said, because there isn't any real desire to drill on the Atlantic side, anyway.
Nelson criticized McCain for changing position and argued that drilling would not lower oil prices.
Gimmicks And Ploys
U.S. Rep. Kathy Castor, a Tampa Democrat, agreed, saying that of the areas already open for leasing - mostly in the western Gulf of Mexico and portions of the Alaska coast - only about a quarter are producing oil and gas. "Just like his earlier gimmick of a gas tax holiday, this is another election year ploy that shows Senator McCain is not serious about finding a long-term solution to help families caught in the unfortunate Bush economy," Castor said.
Most consumers are extremely concerned about gas prices, deHaven-Smith said. "But in Florida that calculus may not work. Most of our state is connected to the beaches. ... It's an ongoing, constant part of their lives; when you talk about potentially threatening that - historically, at least - Floridians have been absolutely opposed to it."
Little polling has been conducted in Florida about the oil drilling recently, leaving public opinion on the issue uncertain. In May 2006, Florida voters polled by Quinnipiac University approved allowing oil drilling in the Gulf 100 miles from the Florida coast 51 percent to 42 percent.
Nationally, polling shows that a majority of Americans support lifting the moratorium on offshore drilling, said New York-based national pollster John Zogby. Significant opposition remains, above 40 percent, but it has been falling, he said.
"I think $4-a-gallon has done that," said Martinez. "I hear that from people everywhere I go that this is compelling. People need to see more oil production. They understand that this is a supply-and-demand problem."
Reporter Catherine Dolinski can be reached at (850) 222-8382 or cdolinski@tampatrib.com. Reporter Billy House can be reached at (202) 662-7673 or bhouse@tampatrib.com.
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