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Florida Senator Bill Nelson is touring the state to rally support against offshore oil drilling.

An anti-drilling tour in Florida would have seemed unnecessary just two years ago, but rising gas prices have changed the minds of many Floridians. Congress is considering a plan to allow drilling 10 miles off of Florida’s coast. At a Monday morning news conference at the senator’s Tallahassee office, Nelson told reporters drilling is not the answer to the country’s gas problems.

“Drilling off the coast of Florida is not going to do a thing for gas prices. If you want to do something for gas prices, you’ve got to plug the Enron Loophole and stop the unregulated speculation, selling and buying of oil futures contracts on the unregulated oil markets,” said Nelson.

Floridaoil.org, a pro-drilling group, tried to attend Nelson’s news conference Monday, but were banned from the Senators Office.