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The battle to ban offshore oil drilling in Florida waters in raging on two fronts. A petition drive and legislation to create a constitutional ban on drilling were both announced today at the state capitol. As Whitney Ray tells us, some familiar faces are heading up the efforts.

Sand and sea oats laid way for former Governor Charlie Crist and CFO Alex Sink’s return to the state capitol. The two are joining forces to write an oil drilling ban into the state constitution.

“It’s important to not only protect the beach, but also an important industry called tourism,” said Crist.

Crist’s attempt at an oil ban in a July special session, drew a defiant gavel and go from lawmakers.

Now Crist and Sink are taking their case straight to the people; co-sponsoring a petition drive to put a ban on the 2012 ballot. The group is using the BP oil spill as its main argument for a constitutional ban.

The spill threatened the state’s 65 billion dollar tourism industry for five months last summer. It led legislative leaders to promise not to pass drilling, but if a case is made in the future that drilling is safe Governor Rick Scott may be onboard.

“Focus on everything, from all the alternative fuels, all those things, to the extent that they make sense, and also look at offshore drilling when we know we can do it safely,” said Scott.

But Scott’s former foe, Alex Sink, says drilling will never be safe enough for Florida.

“There’s always human error. We can’t afford any kind of human error within 10 miles of our beaches,” said Sink.

Crist was the first to sign the petition, and now the enormous task is underway to gather the nearly 700-thousand signatures needed to put the ban before voters. Democratic lawmakers are also trying to get a ban on the 2012 ballot. Legislation has been filed to allow voters to decide, but it’s not expected to make it out of committee.