Seas rise, Fla. GOP leaders balk at climate change

http://www.mysanantonio.com/business/energy/article/Seas-rise-Fla-GOP-leaders-balk-at-climate-change-5535847.php



This May 17, 2014, file photo shows Blanca Mesa of Miami protesting against Sen. Marco Rubio's statements on climate change as activists and beach-goers join hands in a Hands across the Sand demonstration in Miami Beach, Fla. There are few places more vulnerable to rising sea levels than low-lying South Florida. While other coastal states take aggressive measures to battle the effects of global warming, Florida's top politicians are challenging the science and debating whether the problem even exists. Those positions could impact the political fortunes of the state's chief skeptics, including Sen. Marco Rubio and former Gov. Jeb Bush, both of whom are weighing presidential campaigns in 2016.

Seas rise, Fla. GOP leaders balk at climate change
By MICHAEL J. MISHAK, Associated Press : June 7, 2014 : Updated: June 7, 2014 9:33am

MIAMI BEACH, Fla. (AP) — On a recent afternoon, Scott McKenzie watched torrential rains and a murky tide swallow the street outside his dog-grooming salon. Within minutes, much of this stretch of chic South Beach was flooded ankle-deep in a fetid mix of rain and sea.

"Welcome to the new Venice," McKenzie joked as salt water surged from the sewers.

There are few places in the nation more vulnerable to rising sea levels than low-lying South Florida, a tourist and retirement mecca built on drained swampland.

Yet as other coastal states and the Obama administration take aggressive measures to battle the effects of global warming, Florida's top Republican politicians are challenging the science and balking at government fixes.