Mar 1, 2019
By Dennis Sadowski
WASHINGTON — Rep. Francis Rooney, a former U.S. ambassador to the Vatican, cautioned that offshore drilling for oil in Florida’s coastal waters would endanger the state’s tourism-based economy should a major spill occur.
The Republican congressman from Florida also said during a midday roundtable discussion sponsored by the National Religious Partnership for the Environment on Capitol Hill Feb. 27 that steps must be taken to reduce dependence on fossil fuels because their continued use damages the environment and contributes to climate change.
“Offshore drilling is a real problem for people in Florida, particularly the west coast. The east coast not so much because the Gulf Stream kind of makes it impossible to do much of it,” Rooney said…
…Penny Hooper, leadership council chair for North Carolina Interfaith Power and Light, a program of the North Carolina Council of Churches, explained how climate change has contributed to more intense hurricanes in her state and elsewhere including southeast Texas and Puerto Rico, where record flooding has been recorded. Read more here