Opinion: Florida sees much-needed environmental leadership

Opinion: Florida sees much-needed environmental leadership
Feb 8, 2019, 5:00am EST

Just two days after being sworn in as Florida's 46th governor, Ron DeSantis took decisive actions to protect the state's environment — creating an Office of Resilience and Coastal Protection to address sea level rise; appointing a chief science officer and establishing a Blue-Green Algae Task Force to integrate science into decision-making.

DeSantis' executive orders specified his administration would adamantly oppose offshore oil and gas drilling as well as hydraulic fracturing in Florida. And he just backed that up with a $625 million environmental budget.

Wow! Leadership is everything, and it's especially refreshing to see it coming from our new governor given the lack of leadership on this from his predecessor Rick Scott.

Similarly, local officials across Florida are moving to make their communities more resilient through regional collaborations like the newly formed Tampa Bay Regional Resiliency Coalition. Leaders such as Pinellas County Commissioner Janet Long, who as chair of the Tampa Bay Regional Planning Council, acted when she understood the threat and cause of sea level rise and storm surge affecting her community. The Coalition — made up of 27 local governments so far — will consider climate adaptation and mitigation addressing aging infrastructure, emergency management and public health.

These are crucial steps in the right direction for Florida's future.

Clearly DeSantis is laser-focused on water quality and the toxic algae blooms and red tide plaguing Florida. Good thing because tourists canceled vacations and locals wound up in doctors' offices with algae-related health complaints. We saw record-breaking numbers of wildlife deaths including more than 100 dead dolphins, and the state spent $17.3 million in 12 counties to clean up dead fish, according to the Florida Department of Environmental Protection. With an economy so dependent on tourism and coastal recreation, it's not just an environmental issue; it's an economic issue.

Improving water quality is all important but the stark reality is that we cannot fully address harmful algae blooms without addressing climate change.

According to the recently released, congressionally mandated National Climate Assessment, climate change impacts make algae blooms worse. Nutrient pollutants are the primary driver of the problem, but warmer, wetter weather exacerbates the toxic blooms. Extreme rains wash more nutrients into waterways, further intensifying toxic algae, and the heat exacerbates the worst blooms. We're living with the most severe algae and red tide outbreak in a decade and we must address the cause of the problem or risk this crisis becoming the norm.

DeSantis' commitment to make science-based decisions is a real breath of fresh air even while President Trump denies science. And if science leads the way, then the governor will see the role climate change plays in both sea level rise and harmful algae blooms.

It's heartening to see so many local leaders respond to these threats and they very much need a partner in Tallahassee when it comes to mitigating climate change impacts. I'm hopeful DeSantis will see the connection sooner rather than later because time is of the essence.

Susan Glickman is the Florida Director of the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy.