Crist: BP Needs to Give Florida Another $50 Million

Gov. Charlie Crist is asking British Petroleum for an extra $50 million to fund the state's response to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

With an oil sheen and tar balls looming not 10 miles off the coast of Pensacola, Crist sent a letter to BP America President Lamar McKay for $30 million for supplemental protective measures and $20 million for incremental local and state preparedness support costs over the first 60 days of the spill.

"It is critical that Florida be provided the resources to respond swiftly and assuredly to safeguard our shores and estuaries from the potential impact to our shores," Crist wrote in his letter.

The money would be in addition to $25 million the state has already received from BP, and exhausted, for its response to the spill, and another $25 million from BP for an emergency marketing campaign for the state tourism industry.

Crist has come under fire for a delayed delivery of the marketing money. It took two weeks from his initial request for the state to receive the money, and not all of it is in the tourism industry's hands yet.