[308MBR]

This should be another example of separating the people in the Senate who have a reasonable amount of common sense from the (majority, I fear) ones who are hoplophobic demagogues.

They must feel China and Cuba will be better stewards of the environment, or something. Feeling is what they do. Very little critical thinking can enter that august body due to all the pandering and "feeling".

[Mikey_1962]

Reminds me of when I had my boat.... I loved offshore drilling ;)

[ovrtaxt]

As a Floridian, I say drill away.

Sure, we have the best beaches in America, (except for maybe Hawaii), and a beautiful coral reef in the upper keys, but so what. Cuba is drilling near the keys anyway. Either stop those rigs, or join them and claim the territory.

[Eric in the Ozarks]

Finally. One small accomplishment.

[mylife]

its about time!

[Paladin2]

This near daily votiong is fun. Congress needs to keep up the pace.

[ChessExpert]

I don't see it as beaches or oil. Was it cattle ranching or oil for Texas?

A better statement of our choice is this: Who do we pay for oil and gas? Ourselves or the Jihadists?

[Mrs. Shawnlaw]

College kids can now have a way to pay off or pay cash for their tuition. I remember Oklahoma in the 70's and early 80's. Great wages and nothing happened to the environment.

[stickandrudder]

It's about time
Charge a tariff to any state that does not drill
Give it back to the states that do.

[WestVirginiaRebel]

This would be a huge boost to local economies, particlarly those areas affected by Katrina. Score one for common sense.

[Dustbunny]

Finally !! Hoping the Senate will follow suit.

[rodguy911]

Both Martinez and guber,er Nelson(who is vying for the title of dumbest Senator ever in the history of the Senate) signed on to a letter a few months ago that ran in many papers statewide courtesy of the drive-bys stating all the evils of drilling off the Fla Coast and how neither would ever sign on to allow drilling in-the gulf. What idiots!

It's all political BS with little or no hard evidence at all to back up any of the liberal feel good rants.

We just had two of the biggest hurricanes around cruise right over the entire Gulf with oil well derrick after derrick and there are no reports of spillage. My info is that the oil companies have figured out how to cap the wells when storms come. And, if there are any spills, methods of cleaning up are far superior to what they had during Exon Valdez which is the standard for the rats and rinos in the senate. wind mills,electric cars good, gas engines bad. Might no be so easy if gas hits $4.00.

The worse part of the whole deal is that we wind up buying crude from out worst enemies or those who would just as soon blow us up. And with china helping Cuba drill 45 miles off the coast soon we will probably buy from that combo as well.

What red blooded American in their right mind would buy oil from terrorists or commie countries rather than drill it our self--how stuck on stupid can the critters get?

[backhoe]

I have covered, ( Or, as Seamole calls it...-backhoe's pseudoblog--...-more- ) pseudo-blogged, these issues for years-- we all need to get serious about our dependency on foreign sources of energy, and use our own resources.

Our consumer-based economy is driven by and dependent upon readily-available, reliable energy-- choke that off, and we'll all be back to using one rotary dial phone in the dining room, watching one TV in the living room, and driving one car per family-- probably a Hudson Hornet or a Nash Metropolitan...

We need to

1) end the nonsensical ban on offshore drilling off California and Florida--read & weep:
Castro Plans to Drill 45 Miles from US Shores, But We Can't

2) build a lot of next-generation nuclear power plants, not just for electricity, but for any process requiring heat, power, or steam.
And if we replaced our existing nuclear plants with this one

...there would be significant benefits.

3) end Jimmy Carter's idiotic ban on recycling nuclear waste, and reprocess the stuff rather than fighting over where to bury it. Europe has done this for decades.-- what to do with spent nuclear fuel? Answer here: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1468321/posts?page=50#50 hattip:  Mike (former Navy Nuclear Engineer)

4) use the 300-500 years worth of coal we have on our own land, using the new clean-coal technology.
-Clean Coal Centre--

5) and finally, there's nothing wrong with conservation, we should all practice it- but you can't conserve your way out of a shortage. Nor is there anything wrong with "alternative" energy sources- except they don't supply the vast ( not to mention readily-available ) amounts of power we need at a price competitive to more conventional sources.

Then again, there is this to ponder:
Energy From the Gulf Stream
http://www.energy.gatech.edu/presentations/mhoover.pdf

Tidal energy farm proposed for Vineyard Sound

We do need to get serious about this before we get strangled by a bunch of petty thieves and dictators who don't like us much.

My tongue-in-cheek collection of energy-related links:

Sticker Shock-$3 a gallon gas? Click the picture:

And kindly note, and note well-- the first reply to this post ( when gas was $1.45 a gallon ) was derisive... so, who's laughing now?

Vest-Pocket Summary:

1- drill for gas & oil like crazy- onshore, offshore, and in Alaska
2- go nuclear for power
3- convert stationary plants to clean coal technology or Next-Gen Nuclear
4- slash taxes and regulations like crazy

[DennisR]

Please, everyone, do what I did: email or call the two Florida Senators and tell them you will not be visiting Florida if they vote against offshore drilling or if they make outlandish demands (like drilling more than 20 miles off shore). The reason Florida has such low taxes is because they stick it to tourists in hotel/motel/rental taxes. If the Senators feel tourism is severely threatened, maybe they will suddenly get a dose of common sense. I told them my wife and I were down there earlier this year, but would not be returning if they vote against the bill. And that I would be telling my friends and family not to visit there, either. Because this is not a "Florida" thing - it is a "UNITED STATES" thing. Why should Florida not want to do something that would help the country???

So call! Write! Email! Right now! :)

http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm?State=FL

http://www.house.gov/writerep/

Phone numbers:
Martinez: 202-224-3041
Nelson: 202-224-5274