O&G Drilling off Florida coast - Rick Scott's duplicity

From my friend's FB (she's a retired attorney):


The Trump administration is seeking to open nearly all U.S. coastal waters to oil exploration and drilling. Florida Governor Rick Scott, a Trump supporter and protégé, expressed opposition to the plan to open Florida’s coasts to drilling. We should not be deceived by this glib assertion of opposition, which is nothing more than a political stunt. It is politically advantageous for Scott to appear to align himself with nearly all Floridians on this issue. He is running against democrat Bill Nelson for the U.S. Senate, and it would be political suicide to support drilling off Florida’s coasts. The spurious and political nature of this opposition was demonstrated at the recent hearing in Tallahassee on the proposal to allow big oil full access to our coastlines. Mr. Scott sent representatives to the hearing. Some were young people holding deceptive signs regarding Mr. Scott’s alleged pro-environment positions. Most notable, however, was the statement given by Mr. Scott’s spokesperson. She touted Mr. Scott’s defense of the environment, and then concluded her remarks by inadvertently disclosing Mr. Scott’s true position. She claimed that as a result of the 2010 Deepwater Horizen spill “not a drop of oil touched Florida’s coast” concluding that the damage to Florida’s tourism was a result of perception, not reality.

The oil spill did indeed reach Florida’s coast. I was in Pensacola when it happened. First the fish kill, then the oil sheen, then the men in hazmat suits. It happened, it was devastating, and the effects are still being seen today. The fact that Mr. Scott could send someone to the hearing on drilling who was completely dismissive of the real damage, calling it a problem of “perception” only, is yet another indication that Scott’s opposition to drilling is not informed by real facts and is nothing more than a political stunt.

Consider this: 4 days before Trump’s administration announced the intent to open all areas to oil drilling, Scott met with Trump at Trump’s Mar-A-Lago. Then a few days before the hearing in Tallahassee there was a contrived meeting between Secretary Zinke and Scott at the Tallahassee airport. At the conclusion of that meeting Scott announced a “deal” had been struck to take Florida’s coast off the table. Unfortunately, no one told the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, responsible for the proposal to open coasts to drilling, about this “deal.”

Maybe Florida will be taken off the table, at least until Scott can use this “victory” as a way persuade Floridians that their environment will be as safe under his stewardship as under Nelson’s. Don’t be deceived.

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Florida man......what do you expect.

2seaoat wrote:Florida man......what do you expect.

Nope.

"...Born in Bloomington, Illinois, Scott was raised in North Kansas City, Missouri, the second of five children in a lower middle-class, financially struggling family. His mother, Esther J. (née Fry; October 20, 1928 – November 13, 2012), worked as a clerk at J. C. Penney, among other jobs.[13][14] His parents divorced and, in 1954, his mother married Orba Scott Jr. (died 2006), a truck driver. Orba adopted young "Rick", who took his stepfather's surname, and became known as Richard Lynn Scott.[15]

Scott graduated from North Kansas City High School in 1970,[16] and then attended one year of community college and enlisted in the United States Navy, also in 1970.[17]

Scott was in the U.S. Navy for 29 months[18] and served on the USS Glover (FF-1098) as a radar technician. Scott made his first foray into business while working his way through college and law school, initially buying and reviving a failing donut shop, the Flavor Maid Do-Nut, and revived it by adding workplace delivery, which his father ran, instead of relying on foot traffic. He later bought and revived another donut shop.[19]

He attended college on the GI Bill, later graduating from the University of Missouri–Kansas City with a bachelor's degree in business administration and earned a law degree by working his way through Southern Methodist University. He was licensed by the Texas Bar to practice law on November 6, 1978.[20]

On April 20, 1972, Scott, who was 19 years old, married his high school sweetheart, Frances Annette Holland (born February 11, 1952), who was 20; the couple has two daughters.[13] The Scotts live in Naples and are founding members of Naples Community Church.[21]..."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rick_Scott

Sketchy bio for a sketchy character.