Sink & McCollum

Florida’s legislative leaders may be pushing hard to allow offshore drilling close to the coast of Florida. But neither major-party candidate for governor supports the move, according to WFSU-FM.

Republican candidate Bill McCollum said he wasn’t in favor of it, and Democratic candidate Alex Sink agreed, citing her concern about the impact dirty beaches might have on the state’s the $50-billion tourist industry, according to the radio report.

Meanwhile, one of the key arguments for allowing drilling close to Florida — the attempt by Cuba to drill off its own coast, just south of the Keys — has suffered a setback.

“Cuba and a consortium of foreign oil companies have once again postponed plans to drill for oil in the island’s still-untapped fields in the gulf,” Reuters reported recently. A Spanish company drilled a test well 20 miles off Cuba’s northern coast in 2004, finding traces of high-quality oil, and there have been repeated promises that a second well would follow shortly — “but each time the project has been put off without explanation.”