Press Mention Politico December 20, 2020
Topical Mention
GOP leaders have put a focus on flooding. Here are their biggest hurdles.
In this mention
Florida Republican legislative leaders Senate President Wilton Simpson and House Speaker Chris Sprowls have made sea level rise and flooding a priority, but their approach remains piecemeal and lacks commitment to addressing root causes like carbon emissions. The article examines the tension between GOP messaging on climate adaptation versus their resistance to climate-change terminology and the Green New Deal, leaving environmentalists skeptical of substantive action.
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GOP leaders have put a focus on flooding. Here are their biggest hurdles.
By: Bruce Ritchie
| 12/21/2020 05:01 AM EST
TALLAHASSEE — Senate President Wilton Simpson and House Speaker Chris Sprowls say they want the Legislature to tackle sea level rise in a serious way.
How they get something to show for it over the next two years is a different story.
For an issue that plagues a state with 1,300 miles of coastline, Florida's approach to flooding is piecemeal, at best. There are lots of efforts by local actors who don't necessarily see steady direction from statewide officials.
And while Sprowls told Republicans last year that the party needs to "stop being afraid of words like climate change and sea level rise," he hasn't offered any statement to address the root cause — carbon emissions — a stumbling block that leaves environmentalists skeptical.
Like other Republicans in Florida and elsewhere, both Sprowls and Simpson decry the "Green New Deal," a climate plan championed by liberal Democrats, while pointing to flooding as an issue more people can relate to. The pair also took out an op-ed in September that laid out their early vision for the addressing problem.