I received this in an email from the Florida Audubon this morning. Florida Senate contact numbers can be found here. Let them know this is NOT acceptable.

Florida House Rushes to Approve Near-shore Oil Drilling

Audubon Calls on the Florida Senate to Protect the State’s Beaches and Tourism Economy

April 28, 2009, Tallahassee, FL—Audubon of Florida called on the Florida Senate Tuesday to block desperate attempts by the Texas oil industry and the House of Representatives to open all of the state’s coastal waters to near-shore oil drilling. The call came following a vote by the Florida House Monday to adopt HB 1219, thus allowing the legislation to advance to the Senate.

“The House proposal puts every beach and coastline in Florida at risk for a few million dollars,” said Eric Draper, Audubon of Florida Policy Director. “Our valuable marine resources, coastal communities, and tourist economy is worth much more than that.”

The Senate has an opportunity pass a renewable energy policy, called the Renewable Portfolio Standard, which would increase the state’s clean energy and decrease our dependence on oil and gas, the principle drivers of global warming. Rather than prolong our dependence on petroleum, the Senate should block attempts to damage Florida’s beaches, its coastal communities, and its almost $562 billion tourist economy.

The House drilling proposal is just too high a price to pay in terms of environmental and economic risks. As a result of Hurricanes Rita and Katrina, the US Coast Guard reported that more than 9 million gallons (214,286 barrels) of oil were released (and this does not include the 5,000 so-called minor spills recorded). For comparison, the Exxon-Valdez spill was 240,000 barrels. Spills don’t just occur during storms. The US Coast Guard documented 1300 spills from rigs, 1300 spills from pipelines and 2400 spills from storage tanks in 2008 alone.

Audubon is encouraged and supports the positions of Governor Charlie Crist and Senate President Jeff Atwater, R-North Palm Beach, to hold off on a decision of this magnitude. Passing this proposal would be gambling with the ideals of good government in Florida: transparency, accountability and public participation. Making a decision of this magnitude in the last two weeks of session without substantive discussion, squanders the public trust in government in the Sunshine.

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