The fury of Hurricane Ian has revealed that Florida faces the most severe impacts of climate change. But elected state leaders oppose federal spending to help strengthen and recover states from climate disasters, and efforts to tackle its underlying cause: burning fossil fuels.
Senators Marco Rubio and Rick Scott opposed last year’s bipartisan infrastructure bill, which spent about $50 billion to help states better prepare for events like Ian’s. And in August, he joined Republicans in the Senate to vote against a new climate law in which he invested $369 billion in reducing greenhouse gas emissions. This is the largest effort in US history.
At the same time, Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis blocked state pension funds from taking climate change into consideration when making investment decisions, saying politics should not be included in financial calculations.
In the aftermath of Ian, these leaders are seeking federal help to rebuild the state, but want to discuss the underlying issues that make the hurricane more powerful and devastating. There is none.
As Hurricane Ian approached the Florida coast, the storms intensified as it passed sea levels two to three degrees higher than normal for this time of year, according to NASA data. Its destructive power has been exacerbated by rising sea levels. Water levels off the southwest coast of Florida have risen more than seven inches since 1965, according to the United States. data from National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Finally, warmer air from climate change has increased the amount of rain Ian has in Florida. at least 10 percentabout two inches extra in some places, according to a study published last week.
Rubio has set aside millions of dollars to restore the Everglades as a way to store floodwaters and restore coral reefs to buffer storm surges. One of his congressmen, Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart, a South Florida Republican, won billions in climate resilience.
But no Republican legislator in the state was at the top of the state to support a bill to curb greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to climate change.
Rep. Kathy Castor, a Democrat representing Tampa, said solar and offshore wind could make Florida a leader in renewable energy. Instead, it imports natural gas and burns it to generate electricity.
Aftermath of Hurricane Ian
“Failure to acknowledge that climate change is real and that we need to address it will only harm Florida and the future of the country,” said former Republican Florida governor Charlie, who won a seat in the House as a Democrat. Christ said. Currently, Mr. DeSantis is running for re-election.
Hurricane Ian isn’t the first time Florida has felt the effects of climate change. Rising sea levels in Miami regularly flood streets and sidewalks during high tide, even on sunny days. In the Florida Keys, officials are considering lifting roadbeds that would otherwise be impassable.
But state leaders are needed to stem the catastrophic future of moving away from gas, oil and coal and actively shifting to solar, wind and other renewable energy sources, scientists say. I have long resisted what is said.
“Attempts to reverse-engineer the U.S. economy to absolve it of past climate change sins will fail through carbon taxes and ‘Green New Deal’ schemes,” Rubio said. wrote in 2019“None of these proponents can point to how even the most aggressive (and draconian) plan would improve the lives of the people of Florida.”
Scott, a former governor of Florida and now a member of the state’s House of Representatives, argues that the price of tackling climate change is too high.
“We clearly want to address the impact of climate change and we need to address it,” Scott said. told NPR last summer. “But we have to do it in a financially responsible way. We can’t jeopardize our employment.”
Hurricane Ian may have been one of the deadliest storms to hit Florida, with damage estimated at tens of billions of dollars.
Two senators also voted against last year’s infrastructure bill. The bill provided nearly $50 billion towards climate resilience, the nation’s largest single investment in measures to better protect people from the impacts of climate change.
The bill, which passed the Senate with the support of 19 Republicans, included measures to help protect against hurricanes. Provided billions of dollars for seawalls, stormwater pumps, elevated housing flood control, and other projects.
Many of these measures were co-authored by another Coastal Republican, Republican Senator Bill Cassidy of Louisiana.Big win for Louisiana and our country. Senator Lisa Markowski of Alaska, also a Republican, said: supported the bill, that too. Both states face significant threats from climate change.
However, Mr. Rubio called it “too good to waste’ Scott said it was “Reckless spending’ Both voted against.
Scott and DeSantis did not respond to requests for comment.
Rubio’s deputy chief of staff, Dan Holler, said senators opposed the infrastructure bill because it contained unnecessary measures. Just as Mr. Rubio opposed the final relief package for Hurricane Sandy in 2013, citing extra spending.
The bigger question, though, is that those pushing for broad measures to pull the country off fossil fuels believe that such efforts will actually slow sea level rise, calm storms, and mitigate floods. This means that you have not yet proved this to Mr. Rubio.
Other Republicans offer similar explanations. Republican candidate Anna Paulina Luna, who is expected to win the House districts around Tampa Bay, spoke of the devastation she has seen in Fort Myers, Pine Island and Sanibel Island.
“The damage is devastating and we need help,” she said Monday.
But Luna stressed the need to address climate change by reducing fossil fuel emissions. She said it was “completely ridiculous” for the United States to damage its economy and “pump manufacturing into a country that is one of the most polluted countries in the world, hers,” referring to China. did.
Christo sounded almost sympathetic when discussing the shackles facing Republicans in Florida. He accepted donations from the oil and gas industry, was unwilling to raise the issue of climate change with his most loyal voters, and investigated the damage it was doing to them. state.
In Florida, where offshore drilling is banned, the oil and gas industry is not a major source of campaign funding for politicians. Rubio has received his $223,239 from the oil and gas industry since 2017, which ranks him 15th on Rubio’s list of donors, according to federal records. . Scott received $236,483 from oil and gas. This is his 14th most generous industry for him.
But the Scott-led National Republican Senate Committee, outnumbered only by real estate, Wall Street and retirees, received $3.2 million in oil and gas donations this campaign cycle, according to the Reaction Political Center. By contrast, fossil fuel businesses are not among the top 20 industries that gave the Democratic Senate Election Committee this cycle.
“There is a divide between ‘ideology and reality’ here that must be very intolerable for these Republican politicians,” said Christo.
State Republicans are taking steps to fund climate resilience and adaptation efforts, but are hesitant to use the term “climate.” In 2017, Diaz-Balart, who was the Republican chairman of the House Appropriations subcommittee that funds housing programs, set aside $12 billion for “mitigation” measures in block grants to states and communities, of which Allocated $1.4 billion to Florida. The word “climate” was not included in the definition of “mitigation”.
Carlos Crubello, a former Republican congressman from South Florida, said, “If you’re from Florida, you should lead climate and environmental policy. Republicans are worried about the primaries, so don’t do it.” “But the consequences are very serious. It’s worth putting politics aside and addressing climate issues head-on.”
Meanwhile, Mr. DeSantis announced the program Last year, to provide local governments with $1 billion over four years to address floods, sea level rise and other challenges, he made state pension plans account for companies’ environmental performance when making investment decisions. stopped it.
“We prioritize the economic security of the people of Florida over the vagaries of tomorrow’s utopia,” DeSantis said. statement announced the decision.
DeSantis’ record of other climate decisions may also haunt him. As a Congressman in 2013, he voted against a bill to provide additional disaster assistance to victims of Hurricane Sandy. This is the same kind of additional help that the State of Florida is currently looking for from Ian.
On Friday, Rubio and Scott wrote to senators asking them to help with the disaster relief package. Like DeSantis, Rubio opposed similar measures after Sandy hit the Northeast in 2012 (Scott had not yet been elected to the Senate).
Yoka Arditi Rocha, executive director of the CLEO Institute, a nonprofit that promotes climate change education, advocacy and resilience in Florida, said elected officials in the state should not only respond after a disaster strikes, but also do it. I said I needed to do more.
“Florida will continue to be on the front lines of more devastating hurricanes due to warming,” he said. “We need Republican leaders to step up.”