Florida governor says no oil drilling off coast

MIAMI (Reuters) - Florida Gov. Charlie Crist said on Tuesday he was firmly opposed to lifting a moratorium on oil drilling off the state's Gulf of Mexico coast.

"No oil drilling in the Gulf," Crist, a Republican who has made a name as an environmental campaigner since taking office in January, told the Reuters Global Environment Summit.

"I don't want them to drill off Florida's coast," Crist added in a teleconference call with Reuters correspondents from Miami, New York, Washington, Houston and London.

The United States gets around one-quarter of domestically produced crude and 15 percent of its domestic natural gas from oil and gas platforms in the Gulf of Mexico.

But potentially rich deposits near coastal areas remain untapped because of concerns about pollution, oil leaks and damage to beaches and tourism industries.

The U.S. Congress voted last year to lift a 25-year ban on drilling in an area 125 miles south of the Florida Panhandle, but extended a moratorium on drilling in other Florida waters until 2022.

Some lawmakers have sought to reduce the area covered by the moratorium to 50 miles off the coast.

"Next to Texas," Crist said, when asked how far he would like the drilling ban to stretch.

(For summit blog: summitnotebook.reuters.com/)