Tourists who book three nights or more in a Walton County beach hotel between now and Sept. 30 will get a $250 voucher for Southwest Airlines or $250 gift card for the Silver Sands outlet mall in Sandestin, all on BP’s dime.

The promotion will be paid out of the $7 million BP gave Panhandle tourism boards to help lure visitors back to the region where tourism has taken a nosedive in the aftermath of the massive Deepwater Horizon oil leak.

Tar blotches and oil stains impacted all but 1.5 miles of the 26-mile stretch of sugar white beaches in Walton Count and resulted in a 7 percent drop in bed tax collections in June and a 3 percent reduction in May, according to Dawn Moliterno, head of the region’s tourism development council, Beaches of South Walton.

The $7 million will be divided between the seven Florida tourism councils most directly impacted by the oil spill. Escambia and Santa Rosa counties will receive $700,000; the seven councils will split 14 percent of the $7 million and the rest will be distributed based on the amount of bed tax each of the councils collects. The tourism officials have to spend the money by Sept. 30, when all promotional programs must end, Moliterno said.

Moliterno’s council paid the most of the bunch last year – nearly $1.7 million and so will get a bigger slice of the BP marketing money.

The TDCs are excited about the new fund because they have control over how the money will be spent, unlike the $25 million for marketing BP gave the state earlier in the summer.

Moliterno thinks the vouchers will be great for the local economy because visitors will spread the cash around to businesses other than hotels.

“We know if we can get people here we know we can get them to support the community,” Moliterno said.

She gave BP credit for “putting the money into motion.”

Oil drilling off the Florida coast is dead for now because of the massive oil leak spreading in the Gulf of Mexico, Gov. Charlie Crist said, renewing his call for clean energy sources.

“This is the resurrection of the clean energy argument. Without a doubt in my view.
You’ve got to have solar. We’ve got to move more rapidly to develop wind, nuclear as well. If this does not make the case that we’ve got to have energy resources that are clean that don’t destruct our environment I don’t know what is. I mean, it’s exactly that,” Crist told reporters after a noon briefing at state emergency operations headquarters.

The newly-independent governor and U.S. Senate candidate called the timing of the BP Deepwater Horizon explosion “pretty extraordinary” given that some GOP leaders, including future House Speaker Dean Cannon and future Senate President Mike Haridopolos, were pushing for offshore drilling throughout the legislative session that ended Friday.

“I’ve always said that as long as it was far enough, clean enough and safe enough, that it would be something that I would be willing to look at. This is not far enough. This is not safe enough. It sure as heck isn’t clean enough. I mean, it’s just not good enough, period,” Crist said.

“So given that, I think all bets are off. We’ve got to cease and desist as it relates to this and we’ve got to further renew our commitment to solar and wind and nuclear and other forms of clean energy and natural gas too. We’ve got a lot of that. It’s a lot cleaner than this stuff.”

Lawmakers failed to approve a renewable energy package during the session, and Crist said he may call them back into a special session to deal with the issue or add it to a special session on another topic.

“Absolutely,” he said.

State officials are preparing for what could be the nation’s worst oil spill in recent history to reach Florida shores.

But Gov. Charlie Crist said he is worried about whether the corporation responsible for the disaster is doing everything it can Florida.

Under federal law created after the Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska, BP is responsible for the cleanup and mitigation of the rapidly growing oil leak, now more than 600 miles in circumference, looming off Florida’s Panhandle coastline.

“But my concern is we need to be a responsible country…We can send them a bill later,” Crist told reporters at a noon briefing at state emergency operations headquarters. “It creates a significant concern that the party who created the problem is now the party that’s responsible for solving the problem. I get that. That’s why I’m here.”
(more…)

A fisherman checks the lines on his boat as he trolls the Gulf of Mexico near a natural gas well off the Alabama coast. With fossil fuel imports rising, prices soaring and the offshore-drilling ban expiring in 2012, the industry believes the time is right to press an issue that is has traditionally faced stiff opposition from many environmentalists and coastal states. (AP)

In a historic vote that drove home the changing politics of off-shore drilling in Florida, the Republican-dominated House voted to take the first step toward opening the state’s coastline to oil and gas rigs.

The proposal, which lets the governor and Florida Cabinet allow drilling between three and 10.5 miles off the coast, now moves to the Senate, where support is less likely. Republican leaders in that chamber say the measure appeared too late in the session to receive a thorough debate, said Sen. J.D. Alexander, R-Lake Wales.

But that problem didn’t slow the House, where Republicans dominated a largely partisan 70-43 vote.

Reps. Michelle Rehwinkel Vasilinda of Tallahassee and Debbie Boyd of Newberry were the only Democrats to support the bill (HB 1219). Three Republicans opposed the bill: Bill Galvano of Bradenton, Jim Frishe of St. Petersburg and Ed Hooper of Clearwater.

The issue has traditionally fallen along geographic lines, with coastal politicians voicing the loudest opposition.

That sentiment started changing last year when Republican Gov. Charlie Crist said he would support offshore drilling in Florida after Republican presidential nominee John McCain made it an issue in his campaign.

On Monday, Crist said he was concerned about drilling too close to the coast, but said he would consider the House’s proposal, pushed by Speaker-designate Dean Cannon, R-Winter Park. Listen here Cannon explain his support of the bill.

But Crist urged the Senate to keep it separate from an alternative energy package the chamber is considering.

“Each of those ideas can stand on their own merit,” Crist said.

(more…)