Citizens across the state got a chance Wednesday to question a panel of supporters and opponents of a proposal to open Florida's waters to oil and natural gas exploration. A forum streamed live on the internet and radio and some TV stations (and archived to the left) tackled the issue of opening state waters to oil drilling.

All in all, we had a good showing. Our panelists were successful in refuting many of the drilling proponents' claims. Specifically, drilling will not be the economic windfall that is being touted as and that, in fact, it may be Florida's bane. As pointed out, Florida's tourist economy $65 billion strong and employs one million people throughout the state. This speaks nothing of Florida's $562 billion coastal economy. So when drillers tout dubious statistics of $2 billion and 20,000 jobs, you have to ask, "Why risk what we already have?" Why risk so much for so little, especially when you haven't even proven what little benefit there is? It's simply a scam to enrich a few a the cost of Florida's population and environment at large. Nothing more.