One of the best ways to show support for our beautiful beaches is to encourage the city council, county commission and other local organizations to pass a resolution opposing drilling off Florida’s Gulf Coast.
On April 30th, Walton Area Chamber of Commerce did just that and threw its support behind a proposed Constitutional Amendment banning the offshore drilling practices off Florida’s coast, which have the potential to threaten the economy of Northwest Florida. Here’s the resolution in its entirety.
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PCBDaily 
Why shouldn’t we drill off of Florida? We’ve learned that no matter where you drill, it can still impact you. There’s already thousands of rigs in the gulf, why not more. Either don’t drill at all or add more. If we choose the don’t drill at all option, we would see huge increases in gas prices since the U.S. gets 1/3 of its supply from the gulf, not to mention a further increase in our dependency on foreign oil, which is a very dangerous move. We need to explore other energy options or find safer options for drilling.
I support drilling until there are better alternatives. HOWEVER, companies should not be permitted to drill new wells until they have solutions for EVERY kind of problem that can go wrong. Oil gushing out of a well for over a month without a solution is unacceptable. So right now is not the right time to be opening new wells in Florida or anywhere else in the gulf. Come up with solutions, then you can drill.
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Well, this situation is a catch 22. Don’t drill to protect the environment and pay more at the fuel pump or risk it and drill to get gas pricing affordable. Not sure if gas prices would go down even if we drill because the Government would just tax more to reap more money from the consumer. This however, would be a great time to demand that every vehicle being produced and purchased in the United States, has some form of Solar Power and/or electricity on it and be affordable. The technology is here.This doesn’t need to wait any longer. Not 10 or 20 years from now. I was reading about a new car that runs on electricity the first 50 miles before it starts using gas. It is a very nice looking 4 door sports car. Problem? it’s $87,000..The name Fisker Karma…google it.Can you imagine how many people drive less than 50 miles a day and how much oil this would save! They just need to make these cars affordable.
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Drill in the Gulf, drill in Alaska, mine coal, utilize natural gas; Let’s get weaned from Middle East oil…Why pay countries that want to destroy us when we have PLENTY of natural resources. Electric cars ?, windmills ?, solar panels ?, etc.,…It’s all “pie in the sky” “green” nonsense too little to late. We must deal with “NOW” before Obama brings the United States to its knees. BP’s deep water drilling accident was an anomaly; There are thousands of shallow wells in the Gulf that have never been a problem. If NOT drilling keeps keeps us at the mercy of our enemies AND corrupt politicians (who sell our resource drilling and mining leases to their friends), then I say continue to DRILL in the Gulf and wherever else our energy resources wait (China, in collusion with another of our enemies Cuba, is already “slant drilling” in the Gulf of Mexico: We don’t even ‘sell’ our own resources,…Our enemies just plunder them ! AMERICA FIRST !!!
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I can’t believe the comments posted above supporting drilling in the Gulf. Have you people lost your mind? Look how devastating the current oil spill is now, and it will continue to effect the gulf coast for decades. No argument about the cost of gas is sensible when you consider the devastation to our environment and our way of life. Some things are worth far more than money.
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Sorry, Cindy. But we’re considering economics. It’s not as easy as “No more drilling”. That’s a pretty ignorant statement because there are so many impacts. RIght now, the reality is that we need oil. Our dependency on foreign oil compromises our security, as we are funding our enemies. With our current dependency on oil, not drilling will mean that we have to import more oil which means that we add more funds to the countries that want to see us all dead.
We need alternatives like what Scott presented. But our current situation is that we need oil. What happened in the gulf is absolutely terrible and it makes me mad too. I can’t believe that well over a month, this thing is still gushing. But I also understand reality. When I was a teenager, a friend of mine was killed in a car accident. It was an absolute tragedy. Does that mean that GM does not have the right to manufacture another car because of the damage that can occur due to the use of their product? No. We mourn, remember, learn & move on.
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