Oil Slick Changes Fla. Gov's Mind on Drilling

Florida Gov. Charlie Crist touched ground after about 90 minutes above the Gulf of Mexico on Thursday and had no doubts about where he stood on oil drilling off his state's shore: Not now, no way.

Crist was awed - and not in a good way - at the huge oil spill spreading from a damaged rig off the Louisiana coast and had nightmare visions of the same situation in Florida.

"Clearly it could be devastating to Florida if something like that were to occur. It's the last thing in the world I would want to see happen in our beautiful state," Crist said. "Until you actually see it, I don't know how you can comprehend and appreciate the shear magnitude of that thing. It's frightening."

Crist, who opposed drilling off Florida's coast until softening his stance over the past two years, said there is no question now that lawmakers should give up on the idea this year and in coming years. He has said previously he would support drilling if it was far enough from shore, safe enough and clean enough. He said the spill is proof that's not possible.

Coast Guard Capt. Steve Poulin, the sector commander for coastal Mississippi, Alabama and the Florida Panhandle, briefed Crist on the situation before he, the governor and Florida environmental secretary Michael Sole boarded a C-144 aircraft for a 90 minute flight above the gulf.

With Crist strapped in a backward-facing chair, the Coast Guard opened up the entire back of the plane to give him a wide view of the dark oil slick spreading in a 80- by 42-mile blob in the gulf.

"It's enormous. It's everywhere. It's absolutely unbelievable in it's magnitude," Crist said.

On his flight back to Tallahassee, Crist said the spill is evidence that drilling technology can't meet his criteria for drilling off Florida.

"Clearly that one isn't far enough and that's about 50 to 60 miles out, it's clearly not clean enough after we saw what we saw today - that's horrific - and it certainly isn't safe enough. It's the opposite of safe," Crist said.

Poulin told Crist that at best, the spill can be contained in two weeks by placing a dome over the pipe that broke during an April 20 explosion. But Poulin said a dome has never been used at such an extreme depth - 5,000 feet.

If it doesn't work, Poulin told Crist and Sole that another option is to drill a new line next to the broken one to relieve pressure. That could take 90 days.

"Wow, 90! Ouch," Sole said.

Efforts to close the ruptured well having thus far failed, the Coast Guard is now considering lighting the floating mess on fire.

Coast Guard Rear Adm. Mary Landry said the controlled burns would be done during the day far from shore. Crews would make sure marine life and people were protected and that work on other oil rigs would not be interrupted.

About 1,000 barrels of oil a day are gushing into the gulf. Poulin said it's hard to tell how much is making it to the surface and how much is being suspended in the depths. A shift in winds over the next few days may push the water toward the gulf coast, but Poulin said he didn't know when, or if, the coastline could be hit by the oil slick.

More on the Oil Rig Explosion

Coast Guard May Ignite Gulf Oil Slick
Oil Rig Cook Haunted by Nightmares Since Blast
Oil Spill Growing off Coast after Rig Explosion
Oil Spill Continues; Will Robot Fix Leak?
Man-Made Disaster in the Gulf
Crews Work to Stop Oil Leak in Gulf
Sunken Oil Rig Off Louisiana Coast is Leaking
New Oil-Rig Safety Rules Eyed Before Blast
Louisiana Oil Rig Explosion

As soon as he arrived back home, Crist called Florida National Guard Maj. Gen. Douglas Burnett and emergency management director David Halstead and asked them to work with Sole and the Coast Guard to make a plan to protect Florida's beaches should the oil be pushed by wind and waves toward the Panhandle.

"It's gianormous," Crist told Halstead.

[LtSmily]

This is an unfortunate accident, but the kneejerk reaction is astounding. There are literally thousands of rigs in the Gulf, and I for one, even after this spill, would rather have BP in the Gulf, or an American petroleum company (are there any?) vs the Chinese or Russians, who are building daily in the Gulf. Three things are pertinent:
1) Drill baby Drill plays on base human emotions, and is pretty stupid, in and of itself
2) Solar and Wind power are a pipe dream that can, at best, supply 10% of our power needs. The really cool technologies are geothermal and microwave. Huge geosynchronous solar arrays that beam microwave energy to power stations on earth would be one solar alternative, and besides we need to update our 60+ yr old infrastructure (jobs anyone?).
3)From 1980 - 2006 the United States per capita energy consumption fell by 2.5%, more than any other Western Industrialized Nation except Denmark and Switzerland, AND that was accomplished WITHOUT the job and economy destroying Kyoto Treaty.
This is also an opportunity to create more jobs and specialities within the oil industry for safety protocols that may be lacking now. If oil companies were smart they would invest in this as well as alternative fuel sources, such as the bacteria that eat garbage and release forms of refinable crude oil as a byproduct as was posted earlier. Gas contains 80 times the energy by weight as the best lithium ion battery made today, so pursue the alternative technology, but in addition to making our only reliable energy source more stable

[elliesamericana]

A reasonable intelligent man who pays attention to the facts? Perhaps he should just switch to the Democratic Party rather than running as an independent. And if he does get into the senate as an independent, he may find himself caucusing with the democrats. Respectfully, retired US Army Medical Officer.

[rightbehind]

For what was spent on the Iraq war we could have put solar power on 1 of every 3 single family homes in the US. There are processes in use that can turn garbage into petroleum. There is no need to punch another hole in this planet.

[Positively]

We have a beautiful home sitting on the beaches in Florida and fear that our beach backyard will be ruined. Florida Governor Crist hopefully has seen what this spill will do to tourism to the "Sugar Beaches" and there are too many (campaign) investors to risk losing. Sarah Palin is nothing about family and future except her immediate very own. She made so many mistakes and is so much like the the Goldman execs with "unbridled greed". Her "Drill, Baby Drill" is so not appealing. Who would want a governor, vice-president or president to talk to other adults with the phrase "baby".

Let's keep hopes and prayers alive to stop this horrible oil spill. Pray for the families that lost family and loved ones. I am sure they have more on their minds besides my beach backyard.

[Turbidite]

Thanks BP. Perhaps the oil should be collected and transported to the beaches in England. The British gold mining companies have polluted many square miles of our land and aquifers with their cyanide leaching methods and now we have to put up with this. Thousands of wells have been drilled in the U.S. portion of the Gulf of Mexico with only minor spills. BP has been derelict in their detection of mechanical and geological hazards.

[pubsrtoast]

Gov. Charlie Crist, Who Has Backed Offshore Drilling in Recent Years, Now says Rigs are "Opposite of Safe"
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Since this statement isn't likely to endear him with the lunatic fringe that now comprise the bulk of the Republican party, one can only assume that tomorrow he will announce that he is running as an independent. Good for him.

[lakota2012]

The "drill, baby, drill" morons just are completely clueless about the environmental hazards that are directly affected by offshore drilling, and making a complete mess out of beaches that thrive from tourism.

[brianbwb2011]

They are not clueless, they simply don't care.

Tourism creates jobs for many, but oil brings huge amounts into a few pockets, precisely those pockets from which the "drillheads" derive their "side income".

[omnibus66]

Sarah Palin: "Drill, baby, drill".