We cannot allow drilling to negatively impact Eglin's mission, ... It doesn't make sense. The Gulf of Mexico is very active with military missions. We have to make sure nothing impacts that.

This amendment opens the eastern Gulf of Mexico for natural gas drilling within nine miles of the coast and would absolutely be devastating to the military mission.

I've often argued that oil and gas exploration is a state's rights issue. It is abundantly clear that the State of Florida does not want drilling to negatively affect its beaches and shores.

The drilling rigs that we have in the Gulf have basically ceased operations ... and moved to a safe location.

It's going to have a huge impact. Because I feel I have a sense of what this team is about and what's needed. Hopefully, the type of coach that we need gets the job.

There isn't the spare capacity to make up for the missing production in the Gulf of Mexico. OPEC used to have 4 to 5 million barrels of spare capacity. That's down to about 1.5 million barrels a day this year.