Gov. To BP: Where’s The Cash?

August 2, 2010

As Northwest Florida businesses continue to struggle with fears of oil along the Panhandle keep travelers away, Gov. Charlie Crist announced that BP will make a $7 million initial payment on money it promised to help advertise that the beaches are OK.

Crist announced the money would go to the Northwest Florida Travel Council, even as he pressed the company for the rest of the $50 million he requested in June.

“While we are grateful the well has been capped – and pray that a complete seal of the well is achieved as soon as possible – there still remains a very real and constant threat to Florida’s $60-billion-a-year tourism industry,” Crist wrote to BP COO Doug Shuttles. “Unfortunately, images of damage from spill continue to appear in the media, thereby perpetuating the perception that Florida’s pristine beaches are contaminated by oil. For that reason, I must continue to urge BP to recognize that the impact of the oil spill extends far beyond the coastal counties of Northwest Florida. While the $7 million you have committed to the Northwest Florida Travel Council is certainly appreciated, we continue to believe, these funds fall drastically short of the need throughout the Sunshine State.”

By The News Service Florida

Comments

8 Responses to “Gov. To BP: Where’s The Cash?”

  1. what a shame on August 4th, 2010 3:47 pm

    Yes Audrey
    I live in Escambia County and I have a large 2 story home.
    It is very comfortable and I leave the thermostat on 73 when I have it
    on and I have cut my electric bill in half.

    I do have ceiling fans in every room except for the kitchen and three
    bathrooms.

    Try taking a very cold shower in the morning and in the evening.
    It cools the blood like a cold swimming pool.

    We sleep very comfortably.
    Once in a while like this week I do turn it on some in the night..
    This is not wrote in stone, but it has made a huge difference to our
    consumption of energy and our electric bill.

  2. aubrey king on August 4th, 2010 10:19 am

    To the person who turns their ac off at11:00 pm and not back on till 11:00 am.Do you live in Florida?

  3. what a shame on August 3rd, 2010 3:36 pm

    Tim
    I do see what your sayingl but if we made other fuels, the stations would
    sell them.

    At the very least they need to make our fossil fuels more efficient.
    Did you know we only use 13% of what we load in at the station
    and the rest goes out the tail pipe and into the air.

    I’m willing to take the hit, and see economic hardship to save
    the earth and the animals from extinction.
    We need to save the earth for our children.
    It’s our job!

  4. Tim on August 3rd, 2010 9:55 am

    What a shame, BP is not the only oil company. ExxonMobil, Shell and there are many others that are US owned companies. No drilling would mean that these companies would go out of business. Also without the oil to make gas, how many service stations would have to close their doors. Are we to put all these people out of jobs and on welfare. There is a lot bigger picture here than just the beaches and tourism. There is the potential for major economic hardship if the jobs that the oil companies create are lost. I am not saying not to look for altenative fuels, but until that time we still need the oil. As for the money BP made and it being made by americans, how many of the 125 people on the Horizon was from the US and paid taxes from their earnings or put back into our economy?

  5. what a shame on August 3rd, 2010 8:04 am

    Tim
    No you don’t have to return to the stone age, but you can cut back and
    conserve.
    If everyone did that it would make a dlfference.

    There are hybrid cars and electric cars.
    I bought a hybrid and it wasn’t as expensive as every other car I have
    bought in the last 10 years.
    I am now looking at electric cars.

    I also have cut my ac bill in half. I turn it off till 1:00 in the afternoon.
    I turn it off in the evening at ll:00 pm.

    If we all demanded cars that didn’t run on fossil fuels they would
    have to make them.

    Just don’t buy any new cars for three years unless they are electric

    or hybrid and watch how fast they do something else.

    We don’t need the oil or at least not at the rate we use it, which is only
    surpassed by china.
    We just are lazy and don’t want to band together and do anything about
    it but complain.

    When banning together now is easier than it has ever been before.

    INTERNET BABY!

    As for all the jobs it creates.
    Bull
    All oil does is make the rich richer and the poor poorer!

    Look how much money BP made last year. How much do
    you really think americans made and came into this economy
    from off shore drilling?

  6. Tim on August 3rd, 2010 3:31 am

    Tourism in Florida is only $60 billion a year. How much would drilling off the coast of Florida generate? A lot more than that. Not to mention the jobs it would create. I did not see where any Florida gov. ask the weather centers to pay for any hurricanes that destroyed the beaches. No they asked for more of our tax dollars.
    People need to get over this bashing of BP and the oil companies. They have not asked for any bailout money. And the only way to not need the oil that they drill for is to stop driving our cars and return to the stone age.

  7. anydaynow on August 2nd, 2010 12:13 pm

    Well, gee whiz, Charlie there is still oil on the beaches and in the water. What a dufus to blame the media. They wouldn’t have ever talked about oil in the water and on the beaches at all if it hadn’t ever been there in the first place. Nevermind the fact that I haven’t even heard on the local news about the oil having already entered the food chain. All Charlie has done is give BP an excuse to blame someone else for the tourist industry woes.

  8. gawnhawm on August 2nd, 2010 5:13 am

    No oil on the beach…no money..BP will say let the media pay up…they are the ones that are ruining it for you. NO OIL….NO MONEY simple