Political Quotes

“I want to speak about this nomination from the standpoint of our State, our State of Florida, because we are famous for sugar-white beaches, fertile fishing grounds, and unique environmental treasures, such as the Florida Everglades. These precious natural resources need our protection and our stewardship. In fact, Florida's multibillion-dollar tourism industry is driven by the fact that people come to our State to enjoy these kinds of environmental treasures. I have just come from a meeting with the American Hotel & Lodging Association. With multibillions of dollars of investments all over Florida, what happens if the guests don't come? That is a major investment that is lost. And, oh, by the way, a few years ago during the BP oil spill--when the oil got only as far east from Louisiana as Pensacola Beach, and some oil was in Choctawhatchee Bay and Destin and some tar balls were as far east as Panama City Beach, but not any further--the visitors didn't come because they thought the beaches were covered with oil. Well, right now Florida's unique environment is threatened by several environmental challenges, from the threat of fracking in this honeycomb of limestone filled with freshwater that supports the peninsula of Florida to algal blooms that have plagued much of Florida's Treasure Coast this last year, to the red tide in the Tampa Bay area, and to Burmese pythons in the Everglades. And that is just a little bitty partialness of the plagues.…”