[gfmucci]

Growing up in Fort Lauderdale, I recall many times at the beaches there getting my feet black from the tar created by the freighters off-shore pumping their bilge water before they entered Port Everglades.* That ongoing activity and its consequences has certainly not hurt Fort Lauderdale's tourist economy.* And I understand that oil drilling 10 to 100 miles offshore in the Gulf will have much less impact on beach quality than the freighters lining up to enter Port Everglades.

The tourism nimby's won't have any tourists if they don't join civilization and support whatever needs to be done to reduce energy costs. And the enviro-nimby's will have to eat the critters they're trying to preserve if fuel and food prices keep rising.