Let's make a deal: Oil drilling for national wind insurance

they need to forget about all of this drilling. we wont see any results from this for at least 10 years and even then i think the impact will be minimal.

how about putting some money into finding/creating/inventing alternative energy? nah.. lets just keep pumping trillions into Iraq.

Jimbo, you sound like a smart man. I'm with you. We Need something other then oil not more or it.

you are right on!! Slow changing GREEDY people put us here. Now we need some good old American know how to get us to lead the world in the next commercial energy source. GOD BLESS AMERICA.

Oil companies means polluayion. Leave the natural beauty alone. Bush s**ks and McCain is his evil twin but Obama will be paid off also OUR GOVERMENT is nothing but old tired CROOKS

Sorry for the misspell Pollution

National hurricane insurance is unnecessary - plenty of insurers are ready to write in Florida, but your regulators won't let them charge a fair and adequate rate, period!

Has anyone been to a beach that has offshore rig close to it? Disgusting tar balls rub up on you.

Time to start exploring and getting ready to drill before the Cubans with their buddies the Chinese suck the oil out from beneath the Gulf and spoil our beaches with NO benefit to us. Nice unbalanced article quoting only one side of the issue with info from a left-wing environmentalist group, Mike! No tourism here if we don't have gas to drive to the beach. Wake up now!

great idea...let's go further and reduce property taxes too...polls show that americans want drilling by 70% to 18%...

Let's make a better deal. National catastrophe insurance because we need it; skip the drilling because we don't need it. What we need is an intensive program to encourage the development of alternative fuel and energy technologies, as well as the application of alternative technologies that exist already. Aside from jeopardizing the environment, opening new wells for this profligate civilization would be like a cash bar at an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting.

It is a shame that a newspaperman like Mr. Mayo is so disingenous in his writing. First of all, the proposed drilling is "offshore" on a range of 30 to 100 miles from the coastline. The horizon line is about 25 miles out so the drilling platforms will be out of sight from the beaches. Second, the technology is so advanced today that there is no leaking of oil from the rigs. A short trip to the gulf coast and a little research instead of parroting the mantra of the Democratic Party and the tree huggers will educate him enough to write a factual oped. Third, the chinese and other countries are leasing and preparing to drill right off the Florida Keys and virtually steal the oil from our own backyard. Maybe the Democrats, the tree huggers and Mr. Mayo would rather buy our oil from the Chinese at inflated prices instead of allowing our own companies to do so and create jobs in the process.

I really don't see how it will work. Assuming all the oil they say is there is there, it is reachable, and disasters will not happen, we have it all planned out and builders more than ready, it will take years before the oil makes a dent. If only we use it, it will last 4 years max based on current rate of consumption. Then we will be dry and deep in the crisis again without a "DRILL! DRILL!" answer anymore. Besides, I thought it was a global trade, so we can't keep all of it? So that will shrink the potential price lowering benefits. In addition, isn't all this gonna cost major dollars to drill all those places and build more desperatly needed refiners? Won't that increase prices even more because I don't think the tax breaks are gonna cover it since the tax breaks is already partly used up. So in absolute best case scenario, it will be a waste of time and money, right? We bumped the fuel efficency standard up. Now we need to look for new fuels and set up a decent infastructure. Sadly, some alternate fuels are a heck of a lot better in some parts of the world than other, so it is going to be kind of complicated. And before anyone excuses me of being a tree hugger or a democrat, I am not affilated with any political party and I really detest all these trees around my house.

I have to agree with Benny Espinosa, his comment is the only one here that is not just spitting out the trash that the dems want the public to believe.

And "Someone" from DC says that we have used up the oil in the OCS in about 4 years. Yes, there is only about that much out there. BUT...there is a LOT more within the US. What about the shale that President Bush mentioned? We can extract the oil from that for less than what it costs to buy oil from a FOREIGN company. Why not tap into this resource?

The US needs to wake up. Dependence on foreign oil is going to get to a point where we will have no choice but to start producing our own fuels. Why wait till it gets that bad? Why not start NOW and send a message to foreign companies that we don't need them as much as they thought we did. Let's cripple their economy instead of ours!

Mr Mayo, you're so right, let's just set around with our head in the sand and wait for our oil providing adversaries to cut us off. Why drill for oil now and plan for the future when we can live totally in the moment and not prepare any long term plans to provide for our own energy independence. While we definately need to seek out alternative forms of energy along with conservation, this is time consuming and time is of the essence. Lets work at the solution from both sides and meet in the middle, instead of worrying about the risk of a tar ball on the beach. That problem pales in comparison to our energy dependence on foreign governments and the looming collapse of our economy. Just look what 4+ dollar gas has done to our economy, imagine what will happen at 5 and 6 dollars.

We need the offshore oil and gas to buy us time to develop other energy sources. Better to drill here than send our kids around the world to fight and die for access to foreign oil so we don't spoil the view at the beach.

I appreciate Mayo's suggestion but am opposed to drilling off of Florida's shores. This is typical short-sighted thinking by the current administration, echoed by McCain and sadly Gov. Crist. Do you like where Bush has taken the country? Recession, four dollars + gas prices, dramatically rising food prices, trillions sunk into Iraq? Then vote for McCain for more of the same.

Remember Floridians, a major portion of the state's economy is dependent on tourism and that is based on environmental quality: nice beaches, clear water, wetlands. It’s what keeps millions coming year after year. Housing development in many areas has already affected environmental quality but oil and gas exploration would further degrade the environment. And the benefits from exploration would be relatively limited and only come on stream in a decade or so. A seemingly quick fix solution that is no solution.

We don't need more and more and more oil. Oil is finite and will run out or the costs to get at it will become prohibitive. We need a comprehensive energy policy that reduces dependence on fossil fuels. This means major investments in renewable energy and new technologies. We also must come to grips with the reality that we must use less energy through enhanced efficiency, innovation and by cutting back.

Footnote: Crist has botched it with his flip-flop on this issue and the voters will remember.

If drilling in the Gulf off our coast is a bad idea why are the Chinese and Cubans and Mexicans doing it? Why would oil companies spend money drilling where there is no oil?

Why do you expect others nations to drill in their environments for oil for your use while you arrogantly hold your environment superior and refuse to do what you ask of other countries?

Why do you only quote the radical environmentalists?

Why do you criticize oil companies for being in the oil business? Why is that so strange to you?

To compare oil to heroin is so small minded and displays an absolute ignorance that defies comprehension. No wonder your medium and your paper is dying.

Energy cost is not the only concern here. Feeding our enemies our energy dollars is another.

No, drilling in Florida is not the only solution. It is part of it.

Why do people like you reflexively demonize oil? Oil is a miracle and has improved the lives of human beings in ways that few can fathom. But we know one thing is for sure, dinosaur newspapers like the Sentinel will make sure we have a steady flow of oil in the future

Duh, like the oil companies will reduce prices. Wishful,dumb thinking.

Yeah right; after 7 disastrous years of neglect, Bush now wants to act like he is in charge of the situation. What a pathetic joke.

But we all know that this is just another play for you to get your billionaire buddies a chance to ravage Americas environment for a few dollars.

Jimbo wrote:

they need to forget about all of this drilling. we wont see any results from this for at least 10 years and even then i think the impact will be minimal.
how about putting some money into finding/creating/inventing alternative energy? nah.. lets just keep pumping trillions into Iraq.

Heard the 10 year argument 10 years ago......if we had started then, we wold have it NOW