EDITORIALS

Editorial: Bipartisan action needed on climate change

The Palm Beach Post
Samantha Gazda, 15, with Fridays For Future and Zero Hour, chants in front of the Miami City Hall during a demonstration on July 12. [AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee]

There are signs that the Florida Legislature may finally be ready to discuss the climate crisis. What we really need, however, is bipartisan action.

Our state’s climate scientists and local governments have made it abundantly clear that taking substantive action must be a priority. And it must be a priority now.

Yet the state’s Republican lawmakers continue to lag behind their constituents. According to a statewide survey recently released by Florida Atlantic University, more than two-thirds of Floridians say that climate change has them concerned about the well-being of future generations in Florida and they do not feel government is doing enough to address the impacts.

Denial was the dispiriting norm during the eight years of Gov. Rick Scott. But now that posture may be changing with a nudge from Democrats and a generational shift among Republicans.

Sen. Tom Lee, R-Thonotossassa, acknowledged a “paradigm shift” last month during a Committee on Infrastructure and Security hearing: “There’s a younger generation of conservatives in this state that aren’t as much in denial.”

In his speech in September after being voted in as the next Florida House Speaker, Chris Sprowls admonished his fellow Republicans for being “afraid of words like ‘climate change’ and ‘sea level rise.’”

As he did in the last legislative session, Senate President Bill Galvano, R-Bradenton, is giving a nod to addressing coastal resiliency in the 2020 session. And Gov. Ron DeSantis this summer hired Julia Nesheiwat as the state’s first chief resilience officer to coordinate efforts with local governments on addressing climate issues.

To be sure, there is hope for legislative movement with some GOP members’ willingness to “talk” about sea level rise. But climate activists like state Rep. Anna Eskamani, D-Orlando, say, correctly, that talk doesn’t equate to action.

The freshman lawmaker has filed House Bill 97 that sets a goal of Florida fully using renewable energy by 2050. A companion bill (SB 256) has been filed in the Senate by Sen. Jose Javier Rodriguez, D-Miami.

Both Eskamani and Rodriguez sponsored similar legislation last session that went nowhere. “This has to happen now,” she told the Post Editorial Board, “because Florida is ground zero for sea level rise.”

They have the backing of Florida Agricultural Commissioner Nikki Fried, who has made a top priority of reinvigorating her department’s long-dormant Office of Energy to help address climate challenges.

But this upcoming session, what Eskamani and Rodriguez really need are Republican co-sponsors on their bills.

“That would go a long way toward at least getting a (committee) hearing in the House,” Eskamani said. She added that she is still “hopeful” despite current House Speaker Jose Oliva’s reluctance to face the issue — although the Hialeah Republican’s district is in climate-challenged Miami-Dade County.

In the Senate, we expect that Lee, with Galvano’s charge, will at least allow further discourse.

This shouldn’t even be a partisan issue. With realistic threats from coastal flooding, algae blooms and stronger, wetter hurricanes, our state’s Republican lawmakers must push past talk. They must act.