Wednesday, September 17, 2008

Jeff Miller: "Drill, Baby, Drill" on Pensacola Beach

Northwest Florida's ineffectual congressman, Jeff Miller (R-Chucklhead), in effect voted last night to authorize oil and gas drilling rigs off Pensacola Beach. The House of Representatives bill he voted against would have continued the protection against drilling rigs in the near-shore of Pensacola Beach and other eastern Gulf sugar-white sandy beaches.

Miller voted "No."

As Bryan Dumka from Miller's hometown Cinco Bayou implies, undoubtedly the House bill was politically inspired. Republicans -- including Miller -- have embraced "drill, baby, dill" as their mantra. Democrats, including Nancy Pelosi, are afraid that voters are so stupid they can be suckered into thinking that expanded drilling might be a solution to the current price of gasoline or America's dependency on foreign oil.

Plainly, it is not.

Bryan gives Pelosi a hard time about her support for the compromise drilling bill. We have, too. Everyone needs to remember, however, that it's Republicans like Miller who falsely urged "both parties to drop the partisan bickering" over energy policy and work out a compromise. When offered the chance, Republican House members cynically refused.

Not a single Republican voted for the bill which would open the rest of the nation's coastlines to drilling, even though they're the ones who have been calling for it all along.

At a minimum, it's time for the Pensacola News Journal to acknowledge that Jeff Miller has been lying all along when he claimed to be protecting our beaches from close-in drilling rigs.

edit 9-18

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

You keep trying to put me in northern Santa Rosa county at Chumuckla.

I'm in Cinco Bayou in coastal Okaloosa county. If they plant these things I'll get the oil spill in the bayou a block away while Miller is miles of pine trees from the coast.

It may not affect the farmers around him but it will destroy our economy because Eglin AFB uses the Gulf as a test range. If you have a problem with a bomb you can't shake it loose if their are people and oil rigs below you.

It will shut down tourism and the base, and is a danger to the recreational and commercial fishing out of Destin.

We be a ghost town over here.

Anonymous said...

I'm not sure Region 1 wouldn't be better served with an empty seat in Congress. I've lost count of the number of emails I've sent Jeff Miller, only to get a form reply that he would get back to me (he never does). He has been nothing but a rubber stamp for Bush and doesn't care about his constituents.

Today I got a card in the mail, "Congressman Jeff Miller - Getting Things Done! Representing us...making sure our voices are heard." What a crock.