“Drill, baby, drill” would be a disaster for the Florida Everglades, environmentalists say in response to Rep. Michele Bachmann’s call to explore for oil in the famed wetlands.
Campaigning Sunday in Sarasota, the Republican presidential hopeful advocated drilling for oil in the Everglades and off the shores of Florida.
“Whether that is in the Everglades or whether that is in the eastern Gulf region or whether that's in North Dakota, we need to go where the energy is,” the Minnesota congresswoman said. “Of course, it needs to be done responsibly. If we can't responsibly access energy in the Everglades, then we shouldn't do it.”
The Everglades Foundation said drilling for oil in the Everglades would contaminate drinking water for more than 7 million Florida residents.
"Congresswoman Bachmann needs to understand that oil and drinking water do not mix,” the environmental group said, according to the
Sun-Sentinel.
The foundation added that hunters, fishermen, and other outdoors enthusiasts “do not want to see oil drilling in their Everglades wildlife paradise.”
Florida Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, the chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee, also derided Bachmann’s proposal.
“Michele Bachmann and the rest of the Republican field may think that if we give Big Oil a few more giveaways and take a few risks, we can drill ourselves to energy independence,” Wasserman Schultz told the Sun-Sentinel. “Well, the Republicans couldn’t be more wrong.”