Senator Nelson (FL) has a
petition seeking support against language in the Energy Policy bill which would allow drilling off the Florida coast. Sign it, but make sure he knows that saving Florida isn't worth sacrificing ANWR.
Senator,
I recently signed your petition regarding maintaining the existing boundaries regarding oil and other energy exploration off the Florida coast.
I support you and Senator Martinez fully in this effort; however I would exhort you that in your efforts to gain support for protecting the Florida ecosystem from disaster, you do not consider any quid-pro-quo negotiation to allow free exploration in the ANWR.
We have one complete global ecosystem, and we are one complete nation within it. Saving the Florida coastline at the expense of the Alaskan wilderness is no victory whatsoever. Any such deal-making is a desultory measure and dooms the Florida coast - as well as all other protected ecosystems in the United States - to further 'horse-trading' concessions in the future.
The value of the environment as a whole is non-negotiable. An energy policy which continues to abet rampant consumption of non-renewable resources, ignores the promise of investment in renewable technologies, and continues to cynically encroach on irreplaceable natural habitats is not fiscally wise; it is a policy which creates an ecological deficit which no amount of economic prosperity can counterbalance.
I urge both you and Senator Martinez to consider protecting both the Florida shoreline and the Alaskan wilderness as equally vital in your negotiations on energy policy.
Regards,
<Me>