Jeff Miller Ignores The Oil Spill In His Own Backyard
Right now, the oil spill emanating from the wrecked operations of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig is just a few miles away from hitting the beautiful beaches of Florida’s panhandle. Yet, the U.S. Representative who sits in Congress for the part of Florida that will first be hit by the slick seems mostly to be pretending that nothing’s happening.
Since the Deepwater Horizon exploded, then sunk, then released an ongoing surge of crude oil into the Gulf of Mexico, Congressman Jeff Miller has written a press release about himself getting an award from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, for supporting policies advocated by the organization’s lobbyists. He’s also written a press release about a bone thrown to him by John Boehner, who decided to allow Miller to join the Republican Party National Security Solutions Group. Standing in front of the House of Representatives, Miller has talked about an old church in Pensacola.
On the Deepwater Horizon incident, however, Miller has been almost completely silent. Representative Miller hasn’t issued even one statement through his offices about the oil spill. He hasn’t provided any resources to the many people in his district who depend for their livelihood upon clean Gulf of Mexico waters. He hasn’t even provided a link to point people to the official Deepwater Horizon Response web site.
All that Jeff Miller has done in response to the disaster is listen in on a conference call with the Coast Guard, and offer the following words of comment to a reporter who thought to ask him what he’s doing in the face of this catastrophe: “I think it’s clear everyone is in it for the long haul.” Those are the only words of acknowledgment of this serious crisis that we have from Congressman Miller.
Is Miller in it for the long haul? What’s he doing, to help protect his constituents, and Americans in general, from the dangers of offshore drilling? Miller certainly hasn’t introduced or supported any legislation to help prevent such a disaster from happening again. He hasn’t come up with any bills to provide resources to deal with the present spill either.
That’s not a long haul, Representative Miller. It’s a long nap.
Congressman Miller won’t speak until he checks with his Republican handlers first and get his talking points. The Republicans leadership is mostly being silent on this since they have pushed hard for offshore drilling in the past (“Drill, baby, drill!”).
You’re spot on, James. Congressman Miller is finally having a press conference on the oil spill this afternoon… with Republican handlers by his side.
[...] the region especially profitable. Republican Jeff Miller currently represents that district, but it took Miller 13 days after the Deepwater Horizon exploded to even issue a statement. Miller has yet to take any action of substance, such as introducing a [...]
I am a lifelong resident of Florida’s1st congessional district I contacted Jeff Millers offices in Pensacola and Washington last week and was told by his offices they had no information on anything that he was doing, or planned to do concerning the oil spill.As the days have gone by since then, I have waited for any leadership from his office.I have come to the realization that we have been abandoned by him.Your article is 100% correct.