Gov. Charlie Crist said Tuesday he is closely watching an oil spill from an exploded rig off the coast of Louisiana because the slick is heading east toward Florida, and that the spill should give “pause” to those thinking about oil drilling.
Still, Crist didn’t say he had changed his mind about supporting offshore drilling.
“If this doesn’t give somebody pause, there’s something wrong, I think,” Crist said when asked how the spill had affected his thinking on drilling. “This is a pretty new rig. I’ve always said it would need to be far enough, safe enough, and clean enough.” The rig in question appears not to have been any of those, Crist said.
The governor said he was watching the slick closely because of its movement toward the state and was considering trying to go out over the Gulf in a helicopter on Tuesday to view it.
BP’s Deep Water Horizon Rig exploded and sunk 130 miles southeast of New Orleans.
Source: News Service of Florida
