Bloglines - Nelson fights offshore oil drilling

Bloglines user Lawboat (lawboat@comcast.net) has sent this item to you.

Florida politiX Where Florida gets its political news

Nelson fights offshore oil drilling By james H Following a flip-flop earlier this year by his senate colleague, Republican Senator Mel Martinez, who voted for an expansion of oil drilling and weakened the ban on drilling off the Florida Gulf Coast, Democratic Senator Bill Nelson is now taking his fight directly to the people of the Sunshine State. On his senate web site, Nelson allows Florida citizens to sign an online petition that sends a clear message to the federal government and the Bush administration that Floridians "don't want big oil companies setting up rigs or using seismic explosions off Florida's coast." Nelson, a former astronaut, congressman, and state insurance commissioner, has been a leading critic of the Bush administration's goal of increased oil drilling in the Gulf of Mexico. While Martinez has changed his position and says that he now opposes oil drilling off Florida's coast, Nelson has been consistent in his opposition.