In the News
ICYMI: ‘After Hurricane Helene, Election Nearing, Rick Scott Talks a Little Louder About Climate Change’ [Tallahassee Democrat]
“He Acts Like he Doesn’t Know the Cause. He’s the Cause.”
“He’s Never Been a Friend to Conservation or Environmental issues. So for Him to Attempt in Any Way to Suggest (that) He is Now is Pretty Ridiculous.”
Last week, the Tallahassee Democrat highlighted Rick Scott’s long record of denying climate change and pushing policies that harm Florida’s air and water. As Floridians begin to rebuild from Hurricane Helene and brace for Hurricane Milton, Scott remains under fire for refusing to acknowledge the scientific consensus that climate change is making hurricanes worse. Floridians won’t be fooled: ‘Red Tide Rick’ has done nothing to protect Florida communities threatened by climate.
Click here to read the full story. See key excerpts below:
- Just weeks before he goes before voters seeking reelection, U.S. Sen. Rick Scott edged slightly away from his long-held stance of minimizing the impact of climate change.
- “He’s never been a friend to conservation or environmental issues. So for him to attempt in any way to suggest (that) he is now is pretty ridiculous,” said Gil Smart, executive director of VoteWater, a Florida environmental organization.
- As a two-term governor of Florida, Scott eliminated the state’s growth management agency, abolished the state’s short-lived carbon-reduction goals and reportedly worked to keep climate change out of the vocabulary of his administration, which he has denied.
- He also pushed through the Legislature cuts to water management districts, forcing wholesale layoffs and reducing state environmental oversight.
- Among the wealthiest members of Congress, Scott has invested heavily in energy companies, some of which have contributed to his political campaigns.
- Scott, like DeSantis and many other Republican elected officials, are reluctant to diverge from the path cut by GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump, who has called climate change “a hoax.”
- Florida Democrats, though, criticized Scott for leaving Washington last month before voting on a temporary spending bill to avert a government shutdown which still failed to provide needed money for a depleted Federal Emergency Management Agency disaster relief fund.
- “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,” the Florida Democratic Party said in a statement.
- A decade ago, facing a tough re-election campaign as governor, Scott also took the unusual step of meeting with five Florida environmental scientists after earlier rejecting their requests for a meeting. They’d reached out to him after Scott had downplayed the threat of global warming and dismissed, “I’m not a scientist.”
- The half-hour exchange between the governor and climate experts turned out to be a largely one-sided affair. The five scientists presented evidence of increased carbon levels in the atmosphere, polar ice melt and rising oceans while Scott listened, but said little. When time was up, Scott rose and exited quickly for another office meeting.
- “I’d like to think climate change is obvious to everyone,” one of the scientists, Jeff Chanton of Florida State University, said of Scott’s latest comments. “Maybe he’s moving to the middle for political purposes. That’s cynical, but it’s hard not to be cynical.”
Susan Glickman, a vice-president with The CLEO Institute, a climate education organization, said Scott’s position on climate matters was unconvincing. She said his policies have heightened the state’s risk. “He acts like he doesn’t know the cause. He’s the cause.”