At the media availability before Cabinet last week, Gov. Charlie Crist was holding strong against drilling in the gulf. Gov. are you dropping your opposition to drilling for oil off of Florida's coast?

"I am not," he replied.

See below for more about Crist's thoughts on energy and drilling from last Tuesday.

Question: There's also talk of drilling off Florida's coast.

Crist: Who's talking about that?

Question: What do you think about it?

Crist: "No. 1, I don't like it. But nor do I like the price of gas. I don't think the people of Florida are enjoying it, I know they don't. I know they're very frustrated. And I think that...Several thoughts. no. 1 We have a short-term (drought?), I hope,  as it relates to the price of fuel. And it's a challenge for our economy. and it ripples through the entire economy.  It relates to the price of food, and trucking and other transportation issues and the airline issues. The reality is that we need to find ways to be more energy independent..... It's one of the reasons I think ethonal production is so important..." (starts talking about trade mission to Brazil and developing alternative fuels.....)"

"I think the more we move forward, the more clear it is that North America is a place where there's a lot of oil. Whether it's in Montana, or North Dakota or Alaska, or other places, I think people need more help in order to reduce the costs. That's step one. No. 2, I think the development of alternative fuels is going to be increasingly important. It's a finite commodity. I know there's a lot of it. But ultimately being diversified in our energy resources only makes our country stronger."