Bill authorizing Drilling w/in 3 miles filed last night

Write letters to the editors of all the newspapers (copy the radio and TV station program managers). We suffer from a smaller media market around here; but, if everyone who stood on the beach on February 13 would write to the local editor, it would get their attention. It is a easy and cheap thing to do. The key is to continually bombard the message of no drilling.

go to Tallahassee (or the District office) and sit down with the staff of each member of the Northwest Florida delegation. Often, reaching the staff of a Member is more effective than talking to him or her.

Persuade business owners who oppose drilling to write and talk with staff and members. Republicans listen to business people more than anyone else.

It is going to be hard to break through the arrogance of our delegation, but it is possible if we are consistent and unrelenting.

Rapunzel, you might be surprised how affordable airing ads can be. Regional cable systems only charge $5 to $20 each time an ad runs. I believe it is $60 to run an ad during oprah here on our ABC affiliate. Food for thought...

Count me in for a $100 donation and, oh BTW, I'm a registered Republican. This is NOT a party issue.

Private investigators might be a better use of funds. I'm just sayin'. ;-)

Count me in for a $100 donation and, oh BTW, I'm a registered Republican. This is NOT a party issue.

Andy A., you are right. It is not a partisan issue. It's an entrenchment issue. The party affiliation suggestion was meant to be more of a wake up call -- to say, if you continue to ignore the interests of your constituents, you cannot assume we will continue to support your candidates. It doesn't have to impact the way you vote. Heck, change it back after the session.

But, it is a party issue. In the era of gerrymandered districts the party has a disproportionate amount of power in these non-competitive districts. It's true of the Democratic districts in south Florida, and it is true of the Republican districts in the Panhandle. There is a reason that they are not listening, and are determined to go forward with wildcat scheme to risk our environment and destroy the scenic beauty that fuels tourism. They aren't responsive to voters, they are responsive to the party/political establishment because in a gerrymandered district, the party -- not the people -- is the source of their power.

Basically we have representation without taxation for Big Oil in Texas.

We've got some local TV channels that we should be using. With rental season coming upon us, this is prime time to reach out to all the people who come from out of State to enjoy the beach. While they are watching the channel with all the restaurants and vendors of the area (Don't remember the name of the channel), bombard them with pictures of tar balled and stained beaches, ugly platforms then tell them to reach out to their Congress people or write a letter to Governor Christ. Set up a hotline #. There's so much talent in the area, I am sure someone can help make this more visual and reach as many people as possible nationwide. I know I will be letting people know who rent from me this year about this and I am going to provide a template letter for them to mail with postage paid.
I also have their emails and can continue to bombard them afterward with follow up. There's no reason why we can't do what Obama did during his campaign. Small donations, maximum exposure, email campaigns.....

I knew something was up when I saw Pleat's letter to the Editor in the Herald.

FYI for anyone who's interested.
Here is a copy of Sen. Don Gaetz' reply to my letter to him re: oil drilling

Thank you so much for your email and for your observations.

Perhaps someone has misinformed you but I have not committed to vote for offshore drilling. Consequently there is no position for me to consider.

My position has remained the same for for all three years I have served in the senate: my first consideration is the impact if any which any specific proposal might have on the military missions which undergird the economy of nwflorida.
If a drilling bill reaches the floor of the senate I will of course consider how effective a specific proposal might be in reducing our tragic dependence on foreign oil as well as impacts on tourism and the environment. I will also pay careful attention to considerations of technology and availability and location of refineries.

However, my first consideration will be the military mission and my first five phone calls will be to the commanders of nwflorida's five military bases who use the eglin range in the gulf.

Again, I appreciate your being in touch with me. Please always feel free to write or call. Your guidance helps me be a better senator.

Respectfully,
Senator Don Gaetz

What a crock o' response IMO! :angry:

it will be interesting to compare the responses...assuming I get responses from the others.

The gerrymandering and "safe" districts and areas will continue until the citizenry somehow establishes term limits. They are something we should all be striving for. If we have them for the Presidency, why not Congress?

we do have them (term limits) in Florida...and we still have the gerrymandering situation. I agree we should have them for Congress too. What we really need is for more citizens to get more involved in what elected officials are doing.

What a crock o' response IMO! :angry:

If/when I get the same letter, my response will be easy -- No one has misinformed me, I saw you on Newsview with Lee Sullivan.

The gerrymandering and "safe" districts and areas will continue until the citizenry somehow establishes term limits. They are something we should all be striving for. If we have them for the Presidency, why not Congress?

The state of Florida has term limits and our lhouse district extends east of Tallahassee.

"What a crock of response" is quite right. I've never heard a more pathetic pandering to the powers that be. I don't recall anybody bringing up the issue of "foreign oil" anytime in the thirty-five years since the oil-embargo of 1973 (Carter administration). It's called greed, folks, and has nothing to do with national security.

Ladies and Gentlemen, I am really growing concerned about the very real prospect of the legislature sending a bill to Crist's desk that will allow for oil drilling. On WFSU this morning there was a segment aired during the local news discussing the legislative session that opens today. The Senator who authored the bill and his co-conspirators basically said they didn't care that recent analysis failed to show appreciable oil to extract. Obviously, there are a core group of traitors in Tallahassee who have been bought by oil lobbyists.

Please, please, double down on your efforts to contact the Governor and legislators. Write letters to the newspapers. Do anything you can to voice your opposition, as many voices are what will be needed if we are to win on this issue!!

In this morning's Daily News, all the local politicians deferred their decisions on the subject to the military. None of them opposed drilling because of any moral principle. What a bunch of jerks. I e-mailed a list of about five legislators on the subject, and basically got a form letter that said, in effect, if i wasn't from their district, my opinion didn't count. Just the way this is being downplayed by the media makes me think that something stinks. :angry:

The state of Florida has term limits and our lhouse district extends east of Tallahassee.

I FORGOT!!! I was referring to Congress, anyway.

In this morning's Daily News, all the local politicians deferred their decisions on the subject to the military. None of them opposed drilling because of any moral principle. What a bunch of jerks. I e-mailed a list of about five legislators on the subject, and basically got a form letter that said, in effect, if i wasn't from their district, my opinion didn't count. Just the way this is being downplayed by the media makes me think that something stinks. :angry:

They are all cowards who have sold their souls to finance their perpetual campaigning. Take a stand. Grow a set. However you want to put it, anyone who has a vote on an issue that has such permanent repurcussions and will not tell you straight-up where they stand is behaving like a cockroach running for cover when the lights are flipped on.

I Emailed Gov. Crist, Sen. Gaetz, and Rep. Coley on Sunday night. Here's the (lighly edited) text of what I sent:



Dear Gov/Sen/Rep Crist/Gaetz/Coley,

My family are your constituents, residing in Santa Rosa Beach, Walton County. We strongly urge you to vote against SB 2622.

It is clear and unquestionable that the economy of the region you represent is heavily dependent on tourism and on investment in real estate and vacation homes.

In that light, it is reckless to risk the livelihoods and property values of your constituents by voting for a bill that will allow oil drilling within three miles of shore. Such a rig would be plainly visible from the beach.

Yes, I've read the text of the bill. I know there will be a publicized meeting of the Board of Trustees of the Internal Improvement Trust Fund before granting leases. Let's be realistic here. We both know that once the "cat is out of the bag", there's no stuffing it back in. And that the Board Meeting is highly unlikely to result in denial of a lease application, just because local citizens oppose.

The time to act is now. This bill is wrong for Walton and Okaloosa Counties, not to mention much of the rest of Florida.

Vote against SB2622.

TreeFrog's name and address in signature line




I got an auto-reply from Crist, the only response I've ever gotten to an EMail to the Gov's office.

No answer so far from Gaetz.

The following just arrived from Rep. Coley:



Thank you for expressing your concerns about oil drilling in Florida's Gulf of Mexico. I really appreciate the input. Last year the Florida House passed legislation that would authorize the governor and cabinet to accept a $5 million non-refundable application fee for a company to explore the oil drilling possibilities; it did not authorize drilling. As you expressed, the asset of the Gulf is one that cannot be compromised. Because energy independence is extremely important, I am diligently studying all facets of the issue. However, I cannot stress enough my commitment to protecting the military mission, the tourism industry, and the environment in the panhandle.
I have actively attempted to educate myself on this issue. I invited Representative Dean Cannon, last year's House sponsor, to the Panhandle to see how important the beaches are to our economy and to learn how important the military presence is to the entire region. We both learned a great deal. This is an emotional issue in District 7 because many of the inland counties support drilling. I want to assure you, however, that I have listened to the concerns of the people that would be most affected by the issues - those living on the coast- and will not support legislation that would harm our tourism base or our military presence.
Representing a district with nine counties requires that I listen to all constituents so no issue is a simple one. Please know that I am committed to be a strong voice for all of District 7.

Sincerely,

Marti Coley

In this morning's Daily News, all the local politicians deferred their decisions on the subject to the military. None of them opposed drilling because of any moral principle. What a bunch of jerks. I e-mailed a list of about five legislators on the subject, and basically got a form letter that said, in effect, if i wasn't from their district, my opinion didn't count. Just the way this is being downplayed by the media makes me think that something stinks. :angry:

Using the military angle is just a roundabout way of saying they are going to vote for the bill. Nobody in their right mind would suspect that the bill would be passed over the objections of the military, so it isn't hard to imagine that the final version will include whatever exemptions and exclusions the military asks for. That's great for them, but it doesn't do a thing for our jobs and property values.

I can think of a couple other names for a "$5 million non-refundable application fee". :angry:

If they aren't drilling, why would they need to pay a fee? You can study something all you want w/o paying a fee in Scooterbugland. :roll:

NEWSFLASH POLITICIANS: the military is against it!

From what Rep. Coley keeps stating it seems like her solution to a budget shortfall is to basically eff over out of town business. Is this really the solution we are looking for? Basically if I'm reading this correctly she's saying that the sole purpose of this bill is to accept money for something we aren't going to allow. Why would Big Oil go for that and be pushing so hard to effectively donate $5 million dollars to the state?

Rep. Coley, exactly how stupid do you think your constituents are?

I Emailed Gov. Crist, Sen. Gaetz, and Rep. Coley on Sunday night. Here's the (lighly edited) text of what I sent:



Dear Gov/Sen/Rep Crist/Gaetz/Coley,

My family are your constituents, residing in Santa Rosa Beach, Walton County. We strongly urge you to vote against SB 2622.

It is clear and unquestionable that the economy of the region you represent is heavily dependent on tourism and on investment in real estate and vacation homes.

In that light, it is reckless to risk the livelihoods and property values of your constituents by voting for a bill that will allow oil drilling within three miles of shore. Such a rig would be plainly visible from the beach.

Yes, I've read the text of the bill. I know there will be a publicized meeting of the Board of Trustees of the Internal Improvement Trust Fund before granting leases. Let's be realistic here. We both know that once the "cat is out of the bag", there's no stuffing it back in. And that the Board Meeting is highly unlikely to result in denial of a lease application, just because local citizens oppose.

The time to act is now. This bill is wrong for Walton and Okaloosa Counties, not to mention much of the rest of Florida.

Vote against SB2622.

TreeFrog's name and address in signature line




I got an auto-reply from Crist, the only response I've ever gotten to an EMail to the Gov's office.

No answer so far from Gaetz.

The following just arrived from Rep. Coley:



Thank you for expressing your concerns about oil drilling in Florida's Gulf of Mexico. I really appreciate the input. Last year the Florida House passed legislation that would authorize the governor and cabinet to accept a $5 million non-refundable application fee for a company to explore the oil drilling possibilities; it did not authorize drilling. As you expressed, the asset of the Gulf is one that cannot be compromised. Because energy independence is extremely important, I am diligently studying all facets of the issue. However, I cannot stress enough my commitment to protecting the military mission, the tourism industry, and the environment in the panhandle.
I have actively attempted to educate myself on this issue. I invited Representative Dean Cannon, last year's House sponsor, to the Panhandle to see how important the beaches are to our economy and to learn how important the military presence is to the entire region. We both learned a great deal. This is an emotional issue in District 7 because many of the inland counties support drilling. I want to assure you, however, that I have listened to the concerns of the people that would be most affected by the issues - those living on the coast- and will not support legislation that would harm our tourism base or our military presence.
Representing a district with nine counties requires that I listen to all constituents so no issue is a simple one. Please know that I am committed to be a strong voice for all of District 7.

Sincerely,

Marti Coley

Well, thats a true story!

From what Rep. Coley keeps stating it seems like her solution to a budget shortfall is to basically eff over out of town business. Is this really the solution we are looking for? Basically if I'm reading this correctly she's saying that the sole purpose of this bill is to accept money for something we aren't going to allow. Why would Big Oil go for that and be pushing so hard to effectively donate $5 million dollars to the state?

Rep. Coley, exactly how stupid do you think your constituents are?

I think she's referring to the previous House bill. SR2622 is a new Senate bill. I've read it, it's specifically about selling mineral rights, not about authorizing a study.