Sen. Bill Nelson (D-FL) said this morning that he won’t support a climate bill that calls for offshore drilling — particularly off the coast of his state.
Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ) staked out a similar position.
“If I have to do a filibuster…I will do so,” Nelson said.
Nelson also called President Obama’s offshore drilling plan “dead on arrival.”
On March 31, Nelson reacted to Obama’s offshore proposal with the following statement:
I’ve talked many times to [ Interior Department ] Secretary [ Ken ] Salazar and told him if they drilled too close to Florida’s beaches they’d be risking the state’s economy and environment. I believe this plan shows they heeded that concern. And it ought to derail the scheme in the Florida Legislature to drill three miles offshore. Now I need to hear from Defense Secretary Robert Gates. I want him to look me in the eye and tell me it will not compromise national security by interfering with the unfettered space we have for training and testing our most sophisticated military weapons systems.
Reporting by Brian Beutler.
