In the News
WHAT THEY’RE SAYING: Rick Scott’s Climate Change Denial is Catching Up to Him
While Climate Change Wreaks Havoc on Florida Communities, ‘Red Tide Rick’ Still Has His Head Stuck in the Sand
The devastation from Hurricane Helene is the latest reminder of Florida’s existential vulnerability to climate change, which is making hurricanes more intense and destructive. Despite the scientific consensus, Rick Scott continues to bury his head in the sand and do nothing to protect Florida communities threatened by extreme weather and sea level rise. While Scott continues to deny the consequences of climate change, Floridians are left to pay the consequences of his inaction.
See below for a roundup of coverage of Scott getting called out for his climate change denial:
Weather Channel: Rick Scott Disputes Climate Change is Making Hurricanes Worse
- Scott: You just have to understand that storm surge is starting to happen. For whatever reason — we don’t know why — we’re having way more storm surge than we’ve ever had in the past. [9/28/24]
MSNBC: GOP Sen. Rick Scott Softens his Position on Climate Change
- Anchor: Well interestingly, here’s a potential clue that Rick Scott thinks he might be in trouble.
- Scott: Who knows what the reason is but something is changing: massive storms, massive storm surge. So we’ve got to figure this out… Absolutely something is changing. The climate is changing. [9/27/24]
- Anchor: I’m sorry: ‘who knows what the reason is?’ But anyway, this is a pretty big shift for the republican Senator. Why is he changing his tune?
- Nikki Fried: That is exactly right, Alex. Having lived here in the state of Florida, everybody knows that for eight years Rick Scott refused to allow his staff inside the Governor’s office to even mention the words climate change. In fact, he supported the Office of Energy moving from the Governor’s office to my last role as Commissioner of Agriculture.
- So to find that he is talking about that the climate is changing. He is part of the reason why we are having this debacle in our state to begin with. Because there’s been no forward movement protecting our environment, and, of course, we are ever dealing with a horrific property insurance crisis he started when he was Governor — under capitalizing the insurance market. So we are living under a perfect storm.
- Rick Scott is bad on all these issues. To your point, he is changing his tune today because he knows we are out here working every single day to make sure we retire him on November 5th and we elect Debbie Mucarsel-Powell to the U.S. Senate.
- The Naples Republican was interviewed on CNN, where anchor Dana Bash observed that the intensity of Helene, described by the Washington Post as one of the biggest storm systems to hit the U.S., appeared part of a trend in which storms “are simply bigger than they once were, perhaps because of climate change.”
- “Who knows?” Scott replied. “Who knows what the reason is, but something is changing. Massive storms. Massive storm surge. So we’ve got to figure this out.”
- Scott served as Florida governor from 2010 and 2018 and was criticized by environmentalists for his inattention to climate issues. “I’m not a scientist,” he said in 2014.
- Scott’s comment about “who knows?” what is contributing to massive storms like Helene stunned some climate change advocates.
- “We know that Rick Scott has invested tens of millions of dollars in gas and utility companies that spew climate pollution. And we know they benefited from his votes. We know that – in part due to actions by Rick Scott – Florida is dangerously over-reliant on methane gas for power – around 75%,” Glickman added in a text message sent to the Phoenix.
- “And we know that climate pollution from Scott’s gas investments is warming the planet. We know warming melts glaciers, raising sea levels. Rick Scott may not know, but we do, that sea rise contributes to the historic storm surge we’re seeing.
- “And we know that, because of warming, we are experiencing unparalleled rapid intensification from hot ocean temperatures. And we also know that Rick Scott has some responsibility for the fact that power bills are through the roof. He approved power plants and pipelines that we never needed.”
South FL Sun Sentinel: As Helene threatened, Rick Scott returned to hurricane mode. Is it substance or show?
- Democrats point to Scott’s record as governor and senator to depict him as a climate change denier at the expense of Florida.
- They cite his vote against the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, which provided money for projects that could help Florida become more resilient to climate change and extreme weather.
- And they consider him a climate change denier. In 2010, the Tampa Bay Times reported, Scott said he hadn’t “been convinced” about global warming. In 2014, the Tampa Tribune reported he met with climate scientists but declined to say if he accepted scientific conclusions about human activity and climate change.
- After he visited Florida Keys communities affected by Hurricane Irma in 2017, Politico reported Scott declined to say if he believed human-caused climate change is real. “Clearly our environment changes all the time, and whether that’s cycles we’re going through or whether that’s man-made, I wouldn’t be able to tell you which one it is,” Scott reportedly said at the time.
- While Scott was governor in 2015, the Florida Center for Investigative Reporting, and subsequently other news organizations, reported that state agencies were ordered not to use the terms “climate change,” “global warming” or “sea-level rise.”