Florida may be safe from offshore drilling mania (for now)

In the flurry of battling bills over opening up new areas to offshore drilling, Florida's congressional delegation may have persuaded everyone to leave the Sunshine State alone -- at least for now, says today's St. Petersburg Times.

"Tuesday, Florida's Gulf Coast was in the sights of House Democratic leaders crafting a bill to expand offshore oil and gas exploration," our colleague Wes Allison reports from Washington.

"By Wednesday, Florida Democrats apparently had convinced House Speaker Nancy Pelosi that Florida gave up enough in 2006, when Congress passed a compromise bill that opened 8.3-million acres of the eastern Gulf of Mexico to drilling in exchange for significant protections closer to shore."

"I think we're good," said Rep. Kathy Castor, D-Tampa, as she left a closed meeting of House Democrats.

"Aides to Pelosi and House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer confirmed the eastern Gulf of Mexico will remain off limits," Allison reports.

Of course, whether that holds depends a lot on who wins this year's presidential race, given the strong support that GOP candidate John McCain and his veep Sarah Palin have shown for greatly expanding offshore drilling, to the obvious dismay of some of their fellow Republicans and the delight of some country music fans.

[AP photo]

--Craig Pittman