Steyer Deploys Ark, and a Flood of Money Oct 17, 2014 1:14 PM EDT

http://www.bloomberg.com/politics/articles/2014-10-17/steyer-deploys-ark-to-display-menace-of-climate-change

Oct. 18 (Bloomberg) -- As rising seas threaten Florida, Thomas Steyer is floating an $8.6 million campaign to save the state, opening 21 offices, dispatching more than 500 staffers and volunteers and deploying a rolling ark.

The founder of hedge fund Farallon Capital Management LLC is pouring $36 million into seven states to show climate change can swing elections. That helps make him the largest individual U.S. political donor during the past two years, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.

Through his NextGen Climate, a super political action committee, the billionaire is seeking to persuade voters that sound environmental policy will help the economy and protect public health. He’s made Florida his primary battleground, contending that the state lacks a progressive energy policy as rising sea levels threaten its shoreline.

“It’s not unusual to have a generational issue, an issue that’s the test for a generation, and I felt like this is the one,” Steyer said in an interview in his San Francisco office, where conference rooms are named after national parks such as Yosemite and Acadia. “If we do well on this, we’ll do well on everything. If we don’t do well on this, we won’t do well on anything.”