Phil Ammann
In five years as Florida governor, Rick Scott has not made many fans among those who protect Florida’s environment, are concerned about climate change of the state’s environmental community in general.
As Tim Elfrink reports in the Miami New Times: “by most expert accounts … Scott’s tenure in Tallahassee has been a flat-out catastrophe for the Sunshine State’s already fragile environment … He slashed water management budgets and stacked regulatory boards with developers.
“He battled tooth-and-nail against new clean water mandates,” Elfrink writes. “Even muttering the words ‘climate change’ was banned in state offices.”
So imagine everyone’s surprise when a group called the Fish & Wildlife Foundation of Florida announced it was giving Scott an award for his work on the environment.
The Fish and Wildlife Foundation supports state’s Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, a board made up of gubernatorial appointees.
In Bill Day’s latest, the governor’s environmental award ranks right up there with luminaries such as “Wile E. Coyote’s Roadrunner Protection Award” and Sylvester the Cat’s recognition for preserving Tweety Bird.
The foundation is chaired by Miami real estate developer Rodney Barreto, who praised Scott for his role in “helping develop a strong connection between fish and wildlife conservation and traditional outdoor activities like hunting and especially fishing.”
That’s not how the Sierra Club sees it.
“No one in their right mind would give Rick Scott an award for protecting wildlife,” Sierra Club spokesman Frank Jackalone told Craig Pittman of the Tampa Bay Times.
Many others, including Bill Day, would agree.
