The Hill News

Florida Rep. Debbie Waserman Schultz, the chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee (DNC), thwacked Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) for saying she would consider allowing exploration in the Everglades.

Wasserman Schultz seized on comments by Bachmann, a Republican presidential candidate, suggesting she would allow exploration for oil or natural gas in the preserved Florida areas if it could be done responsibly.

"We need to look forward and invest in the future, and we won’t get there with unthinkable, reckless and irresponsible Republican proposals like drilling for oil in the Everglades," Wasserman Schultz said Monday in a statement. "As a Floridian, I can see that Michele Bachmann's outrageous p! roposal to drill for oil and natural gas in the Everglades, demonstrates just how out of touch Republicans are with the needs of Floridians and all Americans."

Bachmann raised the possibility of allowing exploration in the Everglades during a video interview Sunday with the Associated Press.

"The United States needs to be less dependent on foreign sources of energy, and more dependent on American resourcefulness," Bachmann told the AP. "Whether that is in the Everglades or whether that is in the eastern Gulf region or whether that is in North Dakota, we need to go over the energy rules."

The Tea Party congresswoman has made energy a ! key element of her campaign trail rhetoric as she pursues the ! Republic an presidential nomination. Bachmann vowed earlier this month in South Carolina that, if she were elected, the price of gasoline would fall beneath $2 per gallon. She didn't back down from that remark, either.

Bachmann said that her approval of drilling in the Everglades â€" or anywhere else â€" would depend on whether she thought it could be done responsibly.

"If we can't responsibly access energy in the Everglades, then we shouldn't do it," she said. "N! o one wants to hurt or contaminate the earth. We don't want to harm our water ... From there, though, that doesn't mean that the two have to be mutually exclusive. We can protect the environment, and do so responsibly, but we can also protect the environment and not kill jobs in America, and not deny ourselves access to the energy resources that America's been so blessed with."

The issue of offshore drilling has always been a touchy political issue in Florida, where the tourism industry depends on clean beaches. That industry was jeopardized last year as a result of the 2010 BP oil spill off the coast of Louisiana, the effects of which extended to Florida. Support for drilling offshore in Florida, in the past, has often hinged on its distance from the shore.

That mak! es Bachmann's comments even more politically thorny, given Flo! rida's s tatus as both a key primary state and a key swing state in the general election. Wasserman Schultz's words in response seem to have that in mind.

"Michele Bachmann’s latest proposal to drill in the Florida Everglades is just another example of the Republican Party supporting policies that would only further enrich the special interests, while putting our environment and working families at risk," the DNC chief said.