Too Funny!
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This is too funny!
On May 31st, The Tampa Tribune did an article on FloridaOil.org and I received a lot of
e-mails. This one, from the webhosting form on the site, caught my attention.
webhosting-userform@floridaoil.org <webhosting-userform@floridaoil.org>
name = Honey Rand
email = honey@eprgroup.com
phone = 813.948.6400
comments = We want to help you, please call.
The first thing I did was check out their site, here is some info from their site.
About Us
We're the environmental communication and marketing specialists. Research. Marketing. Advertising. Public
Relations. Private sector. Public sector. For Profit. Nonprofit.
We've been in business for 12 years. Many of our current clients have been with us since we began. Our clients
are different and so our work is different. So is our work style.
Here's what we do...
•Explain complex problems to a skeptical public
•Assist in managing tough environmental conflicts
•Educate the public
•Develop constituencies to support projects and policies
•Research and market environmental technologies, goods and services
We offer a full range of services—we just do it in the environmental industry.
•Marketing
•Advertising
•Reputation Management
•Public Information
•Issues Management
•Media Relations
•Public Education
•Strategic Planning
Imagine my interest that she wanted to talk to me. So I placed the call, she was on a
conference call and had to call me back. She did and she seemed like a very pleasant
lady, but I was still not sure what she wanted to do for us, after all, they represent
“alternative” energy groups and are against oil drilling.
She proceeded to tell me all of the great things they do. Then she told me how upset they
were about the attempted legislation in Florida to allow drilling for oil and how “they were
stealing money from alternative energy to use on nuclear.” At that point I stopped her and
said “Do you realize we are FOR DRILLING?” After a brief pause, she stated “No I did
not.”
Now keep in mind, she sent the e-mail from our website that has this picture
on the home page……
And went to the website because of this article from the Tampa Tribune……
Group wants offshore drilling on ballot
By CATHERINE DOLINSKI
cdolinski@tampatrib.com
Published: May 31, 2009
TALLAHASSEE - A group of activists intend to launch a petition initiative to place the issue of offshore oil drilling
before voters in 2010. FloridaOil.org plans to ask Florida voters to lift the state ban and kick-start a new offshore
drilling industry for the state.
"The people have spoken loud and clear; they support this," said Don Baldauf of Bradenton, head of the small
but growing FloridaOil.org, which has members and volunteers sprinkled across 10 counties. Baldauf, who
runs a small business installing security systems, mounted an unsuccessful run without party affiliation for the
District 13 seat in Congress last year. Now he plans to ask voters in 2010 to lift Florida's 20-year ban on drilling
in state waters, and mandate Florida build an offshore oil and gas industry. "Whatever it takes to start drilling
and pumping," he said.
Details of his ballot question - or questions - are in the works. Baldauf has registered his organization, which
has fledgling chapters in Pinellas and Leon counties, with the state Division of Elections and has is talking with
an attorney he declined to name about ballot language to submit to the state this summer. That places the
initiative on a tight timeline, and Baldauf has barely begun fundraising. But he hopes oil and gas interests will
back him financially to put the effort on the fast track. Making the 2010 ballot requires 676,811 valid signatures
by Feb. 1.
The state House embraced a plan to lift the 20-year ban on drilling in Florida waters this spring after Speaker-
designate Dean Cannon, R-Winter Park, attached the proposal late in the session to a more modest drilling
bill. But the legislation hit a wall in the state Senate, where President Jeff Atwater, R-Palm Beach, refused to
bring it to a vote because it had not received a full vetting in his chamber. Cannon and other lawmakers say they
intend to improve the plan and bring it back next spring. If they do, they'll receive a positive reception in the
Senate, predicted Sen. Ronda Storms, R-Valrico, who supports the concept. A petition initiative, she said, may
further pressure lawmakers to act. "It demonstrates a commitment on the part of the state and her citizenry, and
it also ignites a fire under the debate."
Baldauf said he can't wait for lawmakers because "Atwater has proven that we can't rely on him" on this issue.
The conservative activist is exploring the prospect of asking voters to expand Florida's seaward boundaries -
and by extension, its drilling options. He hopes that a section of the U.S. Submerged Lands Act supports his
idea.
The 1953 law defines Florida's Gulf boundary as three marine leagues, or roughly 10 miles, from shore. But it
states that if a state indicates "heretofore or hereafter" by constitutional provision or law that it intends to extend
its boundaries, then that claim "is hereby approved and confirmed ... that its boundaries extend beyond that line."
Ronald Weaver, a land-use lawyer in Tampa who frequently deals with property-rights issues, called the
language "interesting." He added, "It does create what we call in the law a 'deference' to the state's assertion of
greater jurisdiction on the subject." But that deference is not unlimited, he said. Federal case law establishes
strong federal sovereignty over submerged lands and resources in the Atlantic Ocean. In the Gulf of Mexico, it's
more ambiguous, giving states more deference when they can prove they have a compelling interest. It
appears, however, that the state may prevail only if the federal government has failed to provide needed
regulation or other action, he said.
U.S. Department of the Interior spokesman Frank Quimby said that section of the 1953 law was meant only to
establish 3-mile or 10-mile seaward boundaries for states that had yet to claim any at all. "It wasn't saying that
states have authority to make new claims" beyond that.
Baldauf said he's awaiting input from legal experts before deciding whether to address the issue in a ballot
question. he intends to submit at least one oil drilling ballot question for 2010. He expects consumer frustration
over increasing gas prices will propel his cause.
That's possible, said Nature Conservancy lobbyist Janet Bowman. She hopes, however, that the attention
President Barack Obama and the Democratic-controlled Congress have focused on global climate change and
alternative fuels will make people think twice. She and other environmentalists warn there is no guarantee
modern drilling technology will insulate the environment and Florida tourism from harm.
"The coastal resources of Florida are an incredibly important component of Florida's economy" she said. "To
risk those resources requires an incredible amount of certainty that they're not going to be damaged. And the
jury is still out on that."
Reporter Catherine Dolinski can be reached at (850) 222-8382.
Honey Rand then proceeded to tell me the I was wrong and had MY facts
wrong. That the oil drilling “pumped poison into the Gulf killing the fish.” She
told me that if I understood the issues, I would change my mind.
This from the lady that read the article and went to our
website and thought we are against drilling.
God help us all.
