This Is How Bad It Is: FL's GOP Governor Uttering The Words "Climate Change" Is A News Story

The Republican governor elected with President Donald Trump’s endorsement has announced plans for a chief resiliency officer. He also says he’ll establish an Office of Resiliency and Coastal Protection. And he named the state’s first chief science officer earlier this month in West Palm Beach, saying, “This idea of – quote – ‘climate change’ has become politicized. My environmental policy is just to try to do things that benefit Floridians.” Did you notice the choice of words there? “Climate change.”

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He expects the change will mean new resources and support for local governments. Municipalities like Miami Beach are installing pumps and raising roads, but he says small- and mid-sized communities are most in need. “Because they don’t have the financial resources to delay what may become inevitable in some areas, which is relocation away from the coastline due to sea level rise.”

That includes communities like Satellite Beach, situated not far from Kennedy Space Center, on a barrier island between the Atlantic Ocean and Indian River Lagoon. City Manager Courtney Barker says there are already plans to move the fire station and other public buildings to higher ground. “We are a highly eroding area, and that is designed by the DEP and the state of Florida. And I think you’ll see over time the same areas being affected over and over again.” She says the city also would consider buying out vulnerable homeowners but doesn’t have the money.

“These properties are worth millions of dollars, and I think once they are impacted like that you’re still looking at hundreds of millions of dollars. And our yearly budget is $12 million, and so we’re just not in a financial position to be able to do that, and so that’s why you need a state fund for those types of issues.”

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https://wusfnews.wusf.usf.edu/post/florida-new-governor-speaks-words-climate-change