If Florida gets a deal, then all the other states get the shaft.

This is the most dangerous legislation I've seen in a quarter-century of working on this issue.

The signal is nothing is sacred off of Florida, and a lot of this is secretarial discretion. Interior can do it themselves, and so there is growing concern that the next secretary will determine the fate of Florida's tourism economy.

This bill is a wolf in sheep's clothing. I have never seen a greater threat to the coast of California. Many coastal states see this as a direct threat to 25 years of bipartisan, bicoastal protection of their most important beaches and coastlands.

You have a White House and committee chairmen in the House and Senate who think they are running out of time to get these coastal areas opened to drilling.

What the industry is proposing could not happen in the light of day.

I think the prospects for success . . . actually decrease as the election gets closer.