Of course, it’s grandstanding. Of course, it’s self-serving. Of course, it’s political. Of course, we’re talking about next week’s special legislative session called by Gov. Charlie Crist to ban oil-drilling off Florida’s coast. He’s asking legislators to let voters decide if they want to enshrine an off-shore drilling ban in the state constitution. The deadline for getting an anti-drilling amendment on the November ballot is Aug. 4.
For all the politics and, indeed, all of the grandstanding, it’s still necessary.
And since when is the prospect of grandstanding politics sufficient reason not to do something? Let alone something critically important. Let’s not get the religion of apolitical civics at precisely the worst possible time. If the pragmatically populist Crist gets credit and political advantage for belatedly, perhaps cynically, doing the right thing, so be it. The right thing–done for reasons less than idealistic–is no less right. Just less righteous. Better a political football than a generational tar ball.
Drilling in the Gulf endangers Florida. It’s no longer an environmental and economic abstraction. Any and all means and measures that underscore this reality–and send an iron-clad signal about the stewardship of this state’s most vital asset–should be utilized.
That’s because the pro-oil lobby remains a force in Tallahassee. And isn’t going away, even if BP does.
Sure, drilling in state (3 to 10 miles off shore) waters is already prohibited, but that could change via legislative action. Recall the two previous (pre-Deepwater) annual legislative sessions where under-the-radar drilling interests came close to overturning the law through the influence of House Speaker Dean Cannon and incoming Senate President Mike Haridopolos. A constitutional ban ups the ante and would require voter approval before being reversed.
Moreover, it could give impetus to the bill that Florida Congresswoman Kathy Castor is pushing to make permanent a moratorium approved by Congress (in 2006) that bans drilling in federal waters within 235 miles of Tampa Bay and 125 miles of the Panhandle.
We’re already seeing what an oil-drilling disaster in the Gulf looks like. It would be a crime to not take every conceivable action to ensure that it never happens again.