Offshore Drilling Threats Mount

Florida’s beloved coast is again at risk, thanks to attempts by the oil and gas industries—and their friends in the Bush administration and Congress—to eliminate the federal moratorium on new offshore drilling leasing that has protected the state’s coastal waters since the 1980s.

Because Florida’s world-famous coastal environment is the foundation of the state’s tourism economy and recreational and commercial fishing industries, the environmental damage caused by oil drilling would also be fi nancially devastating.

A single offshore rig dumps thousands of pounds of toxic pollution into the surrounding water.

Accidental spills are always a major risk as well. Just this past June, a spill from a drilling rig off the Louisiana coast killed hundreds of endangered brown pelicans and oiled thousands more.

The oil industry, working closely with its allies in Congress, is trying to undermine the moratoriums on oil and gas leasing in Florida’s federal waters. They are also planning to conduct an environmentally harmful inventory of oil off Florida’s shores.

Sens. Bill Nelson and Mel Martinez and Rep. Jim Davis (Tampa) are fi ghting to protect Florida’s coast in Congress.

Florida PIRG is continuing its efforts to protect Florida’s shores by urging Gov. Jeb Bush and the entire Florida congressional delegation to stand up to the oil and gas industries.

Progress Energy Urged to Cut CO2 Emissions

Florida PIRG has joined with Progress Energy shareholders and environmental advocates in calling for the company to reduce its global warming pollution.

Progress Energy’s coal-fi red power plants rank sixth in the country for annual carbon dioxide emissions, emitting over 59 million tons of the greenhouse gas each year.

In the last decade, emissions from the company’s plants have increased by 25 percent.

Although power plants in the United States generate twice as much global warming pollution as all of the automobiles in the nation, current federal law does not require power companies to reduce their global warming pollution.

Some companies in the region, such as Cinergy Corp. and Duke Energy, have already acknowledged that global warming is a serious problem requiring government regulation.

Changes in sea levels, rainfall and temperatures caused by global warming could destroy the Florida Everglades, among other catastrophic consequences.

“Florida is on the front line for serious economic and environmental impacts caused by global warming emissions,” said Ann Vanek Dasovich of the Florida Wildlife Federation. “Progress Energy must act now to reduce its emissions and protect Florida’s precious places.”

Cost of College Texts Outpacing Inflation

College textbook publishers have been artificially infl ating prices at nearly four times the correct rate of inflation, according to a new Florida PIRG study.

With textbook costs already high, Florida PIRG has called on publishers to end their price-gouging tactics. On average, textbooks cost Florida students $900 annually, or one-fifth the tuition at a public, four-year university.

Common price-raising tactics include the issuing of barely changed new editions and the bundling of “bells and whistles,” such as CDROMS and workbooks, which raise costs but often go unused in the costs but often go unused in the classroom. The study, which was The study, which was conducted by student volunteers conducted by student volunteers and staff of student PIRG chapters, also found that American students, on average, pay 20 percent more for their textbooks than do students in other countries.

“Hopefully, the mounting evidence of profiteering in the textbook market will pressure publishers to play fair with their student customers,” said Steve Thomas, a Florida State University law student and Florida PIRG intern. “It’s time for publishers to stop gaming the textbook market.”