ICYMI: 'As Helene Threatened, Rick Scott Returned to Hurricane Mode. Is It Substance or Show?' [South Florida Sun Sentinel]

‘Red Tide Rick’ has Done Nothing to Protect Florida Communities Vulnerable to Extreme Weather

Last week, as Floridians faced destruction from Hurricane Helene, the South Florida Sun Sentinel called out Rick Scott’s record of opposing federal policies to protect Florida communities vulnerable to worsening extreme weather. 

Scott, a longtime climate change denier, has repeatedly voted against natural disaster relief funding. Last week Scott left Washington without pushing for desperately needed FEMA funding, even as Helene was on course to ravage Florida’s gulf coast. Scott also opposed the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, which has provided $1.5 billion to make Florida’s infrastructure more resilient to climate change and extreme weather. 

Click here to read the full story. See key excerpts below: 

- Scott decamped from the Capitol before the Senate was done with its work for the week. As a result, he didn’t cast a vote on the measure keeping the government operating until December and avoiding a shutdown.The spending bill didn’t include billions in supplemental disaster funding sought by Democrats and Republicans. 

- Florida Democratic Party spokesperson Alex Wood faulted Scott: “Floridians won’t get the resources needed to recover from Hurricane Helene because Rick Scott left Washington without lifting a finger to fight for disaster relief funding. Instead of photo ops, Rick Scott should do his job.” 

- The consensus in the scientific community is that climate change is a factor making hurricane season worse, particularly by causing more storms.

- Democrats point to Scott’s record as governor and senator to depict him as a climate change denier at the expense of Florida.

- They cite his vote against the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, which provided money for projects that could help Florida become more resilient to climate change and extreme weather.

- And they consider him a climate change denier. In 2010, the Tampa Bay Times reported, Scott said he hadn’t “been convinced” about global warming. In 2014, the Tampa Tribune reported he met with climate scientists but declined to say if he accepted scientific conclusions about human activity and climate change.

- After he visited Florida Keys communities affected by Hurricane Irma in 2017, Politico reported Scott declined to say if he believed human-caused climate change is real. “Clearly our environment changes all the time, and whether that’s cycles we’re going through or whether that’s man-made, I wouldn’t be able to tell you which one it is,” Scott reportedly said at the time.

- While Scott was governor in 2015, the Florida Center for Investigative Reporting, and subsequently other news organizations, reported that state agencies were ordered not to use the terms “climate change,” “global warming” or “sea-level rise.”

- Democrats also said Scott has at times voted against funding for the Federal Emergency Management Agency and funding to strengthen the power grid and pay for flood mitigation projects.

- The bottom line, Democratic Party spokesperson Wood said via email: “Rick Scott has failed Florida communities left vulnerable to hurricanes and the worsening effects of climate change. From voting against disaster relief funding, to opposing investments in strengthening Florida’s infrastructure, Scott has turned his back on Floridians whose livelihoods are threatened by extreme weather.”