For Florida voters, oil spill's hurt still stings

(Florida Today) - Before black, gooey and stinky crude oil from the BP rig explosion in the western Gulf of Mexico washed up on the beaches of Escambia County last year, Northwest Florida residents seemed mildly concerned about expanding drilling for natural gas or oil in federal waters.

At that time, their biggest worries were the impact that drilling might have on the flight training missions of the bases in Northwest Florida, especially from Eglin Air Force Base.

Most residents could not have fathomed an oil spill of the magnitude of the Deepwater Horizon disaster of April 20, 2010.

They could not have imagined the economic and environmental impacts of the spill on the Escambia County communities of Perdido Key and Pensacola Beach. Harder to envision would've been that the economic pain would spread east and south along the coastline after the world viewed Escambia's blackened beaches and decided all of Florida was ruined.

As residents weigh the merits of the presidential candidates, offshore drilling seems to be of greater concern to voters directly impacted by the oil spill than it was before the spill.

But, with a sour economy, President Barack Obama plus the Republican candidates say they are willing to open up federal waters off of Florida and elsewhere to drilling in an effort to generate jobs and further the move toward independence from foreign oil.

On Dec. 14, the Obama Administration allowed the oil and gas lease sale of more than 21 million acres of the Gulf. That's on the heels of a five-year-plan announced in November to expand oil and gas exploration in the Gulf.

"My impression is that the Republican candidates are all for drilling everywhere that's possible," said Enid Sisskin of Gulf Breeze, director of Gulf Coast Environmental Defense. "And President Obama has allowed for an extraordinary number of lease sales. After a brief drilling moratorium, it seems it's full steam ahead. This saddens me."

She does not think that drilling will "be on the radar screen of most voters at all."

"For the most part, people have moved on," she said. "If they don't see oil on the sand and dead fish floating in the water, most people think it's all over, done and not a problem. I don't think a lot of people will base their political decisions on the offshore drilling."

But for Northwest Florida residents like Mike Pinzone, drilling is a big deal.

Pinzone, 49, owner of Papa's Pizza and operator of the Pensacola Beach Gulf Pier, said the BP spill soured his trust in the oil industry in which he used to work. He only recouped $160,000 from the $300,000 claim he filed with BP for lost revenue .

He doesn't want to expand drilling in the Gulf for the sake of creating oil field jobs over tourism and military jobs.

"Drilling will weigh in my decision when I vote," he said. "When you think about the Blue Angels and the Navy practice flights, they can't fly over those rigs... We can't afford to allow these greedy, selfish oil companies to come and destroy what we have left."

W. A. "Buck" Lee, executive director of the Santa Rosa Island Authority, was on the front lines of the oil spill on Pensacola Beach. He was not opposed to drilling in federal waters before the BP disaster. Now, he's changed his mind.

"I don't want other residents in Northwest Florida to have to go through what we went through in 2010," Lee said.

Some businesspeople who might be expected to support expanded drilling aren't so sure because of the potential impact on military jobs.

John Hutchinson, a Gulf Power Co. executive and vice chairman of Pensacola Bay Area Chamber of Commerce governmental affairs committee, said he's not so sure the candidates would have such strong convictions about expanding drilling in the Gulf if they knew more about how it may impact the military.

County Commissioner Grover Robinson IV, whose district includes Pensacola Beach, said last year's spill proved his longstanding belief that "the Florida economy does not mesh with oil and natural gas production."

"Our economy is driven by tourism and the military," Robinson said.

Chassidy Hobbs, who served as the Emerald Coastkeeper during the spill and is instructor of environmental studies at the University of West Florida, hopes the spill will remain fresh for voters. "But it seems that for an overwhelming majority of folks, the BP issue was not that big of deal, even though we still have no idea what the long-term repercussions will be," she said.

Kimberly Blair, Pensacola News-Journal