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A select house committee is moving ahead with legislation to allow oil drilling off the Florida coast. State Rep. Dean Cannon says it could be four or five weeks before specific language is drafted, but he says it is becoming increasingly clear that residents don’t want to see rigs off the coast.

“What are the different ways you can ensure that you can’t see it from the beach, basically,” Cannon said. “If it turns out to be five miles that’s fine, it may need to be further. There may be other ways to achieve that same goal but the main goal that I think there’s a pretty broad consensus on is make sure we don’t see this from the beach in a way that in any way blights the views cape from our coastline.”

The panel was also told that oil drilling and the environment can co-exist. A previous report by the Century Commission questioned whether there was enough oil in Florida waters to make a difference, but Cannon says we won’t know until someone starts looking.