Second largest land owner in Florida has not spoken up on off-shore drilling issue

St. Joe Co. mum on offshore drilling

Jim Ash • News Journal capital bureau • November 29, 2009

TALLAHASSEE — Northwest Florida, proud home of turquoise waters and sugar-sand beaches, has become ground zero in the fight against the Legislature's push for offshore drilling. At the center of one movement is David Rauschkolb, a die-hard-surfer-turned-successful-restaurateur and the driving force behind the statewide Hands Across the Sand protest. Another is Northwest Florida attorney Billy Buzzett, who is about to launch an anti-drilling ballot initiative.

Chambers of Commerce and county commissions from Pensacola to Destin have passed anti-drilling resolutions. Yet to weigh in, however, is St. Joe Co., the second-largest private landowner in the state. In the middle of transforming more than 500,000 acres into beachfront villas and vacation homes, the St. Joe Co. has been conspicuously absent in the debate. Company officials referred all questions to a spokesman who did not return repeated phone calls.

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Through frequent interviews, passionate discussions with his customers at Bud and Alley's, a Seaside landmark, and through his Web site, www.handsacrossthesand.com, Rauschkolb is urging drilling opponents to hit the beach on Feb. 13, weeks before the start of the next legislative session. "If we could get hundreds of thousands of people to go to the beach, we could get the people in Tallahassee to listen," he said. "I'm in the Gulf every day, I taste the water. It's something I'm very passionate about. I'm also a businessman."

More: http://www.pnj.com/article/20091129/NEWS01/911290310