In what likely will become fodder for upcoming lawsuits, a stinging federal report scheduled for release next week shows that shortcuts, mistakes, questionable technology and overall poor management led to the worst oil spill in U.S. history.

Despite a sluggish economy and a potential $3 billion-plus budget gap, Florida should more than double the state’s tourism marketing budget under a proposal sent to Gov.-elect Rick Scott Wednesday by his transition team.

The well has been dead for nearly a month, the leak capped for three months, but in a progress report Monday at the state Chamber of Commerce's Future of Florida Forum in Orlando, a BP executive said that recovery efforts in the aftermath of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill are likely to continue long after the last damage claims are paid out.

As if Northwest Florida coastal towns don't have enough problems, they were told earlier this week that the world's largest auto club issued a travel advisory urging its 50 million members to stay away from their beaches because of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.

But a spokeswoman for the association insisted Wednesday there was no such travel advisory.

Though state waters in Escambia County had been closed to saltwater fishing for less than a day, some of the area’s fishing-related businesses Monday afternoon were already fretting the loss of customers.

“Today we’ve done about $20 in business,” said Doug Vance, owner of Gray’s Tackle and Guide Service.

Florida's tourism industry has yet to receive the $25 million in emergency cash it needs to immediately advertise that Florida’s beaches are open and unsullied by oil from the BP Deepwater Horizon spill, and there is still no word of when or how the industry will receive the money promised by BP earlier this week.

A reliable estimate of  the amount of money needed to satisfy cash assistance and Food Stamp requests from Florida families in dire straits because of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill won’t be known for months.

Darryl Willis, vice president of resources for BP, sought to assure Gov. Charlie Crist's Gulf Oil Spill Economic Recovery Task Force on Wednesday that his company is committed to improving its claims process.

Finally succumbing to pressure from a legion of Florida public officials, members of Congress and the president of the United States, British Petroleum agreed Wednesday to set aside $20 billion in an independently managed escrow account to compensate for losses caused by the Gulf of Mexico oil spill.

Florida has absolutely no frame of reference for the Deepwater Horizon oil spill or its effect on the state economy. And officials admit it will take years -- not weeks or months -- before they can respond to all the claims likely to come from the disaster.