Crist Urged to Call Special Session For Oil Spill

Florida senators Dan Gelber, Rick Kriseman and Keith Fitzgerald are urging Gov. Charlie Crist to call a special session for the oil spill edging closer to Florida's coast.

“I renew my call for Governor Crist to summon the legislature back into a summer special session to confront head on solutions to these complex challenges,” said Sen. Gelber. “The special session must include aggressive measures that protect Floridians by ensuring that the state has the proper laws in place to hold BP and others accountable coupled with a constitutional amendment to ban near-shore drilling.”

“Inaction by the legislature is not an option Floridians can tolerate,” said Rep. Fitzgerald. “We must accept the fact that families and businesses throughout Florida are having their livelihoods and their primary source of income washed away from this horrific incident. And it’s time that the pro-oil supporters put their interests aside and allow the legislature to get to work on solutions that can mitigate the pain.”

“These are proposals that must be addressed immediately,” said Rep. Kriseman. “Passage of this legislation will provide short-term relief and long-term protections. I applaud Governor Crist for being open-minded and seriously considering our requests, and trust he will continue to put the interests of Florida and its citizens first despite the efforts of some out-of-touch politicians in the Florida Legislature.”

The senators want to special to grant the Attorney General environmental crime powers. I don't see Bill McCollum suddenly becoming a consumer advocate and going after BP. The senators also want to discuss victim claims and business compensation. The Florida government is broke. Crist and the legislature will probably lean on the Obama administration and BP for compensation. What the legislature needs to do is think of longterm environmental disaster management and make sure state and federal agencies respond quickly and communicate.

Update: Crist has Economic Impact Assessment work group crunching numbers on potential economic damages from the spill. Crist sent a letter to BP asking for the corporation to work with the Office of Policy and Budget and the Florida Department of Revenue. The Florida government will need data from BP to calculate the economic liability.