‘It’s never been political’: Gov. DeSantis strikes down pleas for executive order on red tide

Mayor Kriseman looks on as crews work to remove a grouper washed up at Crisp Park. Image via Kelly Hayes.

Gov. Ron DeSantis briefed reporters Wednesday on the state’s efforts to mitigate the current red tide outbreak in Tampa Bay, while also receiving praise from local business leaders for his handling of the algae bloom.

The outbreak, which has now led to the collection of more than 1,300 tons of dead sea life, is concentrated along the coasts of Pinellas and Hillsborough counties. At the conference, St. Petersburg City Council Chair Ed Montanari described it as the worst red tide he has seen after living here for decades, while also praising DeSantis.

“My family moved here in 1976. I’ve lived on the water, since that time. I’ve never seen a red tide bloom like we’ve had here in Tampa Bay,” Montanari said. “I’m just so impressed with the way that the local government, the county government and the state government, has worked together.”

DeSantis, surrounded by local political figures, commended the state’s work with counties and local municipalities to address the red tide — despite criticism from St. Pete Mayor Rick Kriseman, who was not invited to the press conference. Kriseman called on the Governor for help in cleaning up the dead fish brought on by the red tide last week, but DeSantis has maintained that he has already done the work to address it.

DeSantis has also called Kriseman’s pleas for an executive order declaring a state of emergency as an attempt to play partisan politics, arguing that it would do more harm than good, and that it “would not allow us to do anything that we’re not already doing.”

“You should look to see, is that credible to say that,” DeSantis said when asked about Kriseman’s claim of the Governor politicizing red tide. “This is something I tackled from day one in office, it’s never been political. They were the ones who were saying, ‘you’ve gotta declare a state of emergency,’ and so we asked him ‘why?’ Well, they didn’t know why, they just wanted to do it for a political talking point. The fact is we budgeted for this. We have money for this.”

The politicization of the governor's response to red tide is truly sickening. My team and I are focused on fixing the mess that was sent our way. When crisis comes, partisanship must go. We should always come together in times like this. https://t.co/zOd4SH5s3n

— Rick Kriseman (@Kriseman) July 21, 2021

DeSantis then called on Robin Miller, President and CEO of the Tampa Bay Beaches Chamber of Commerce, who applauded the Governor’s choice not to declare a state of emergency, saying that it would harm businesses.

“We represent nearly 1,000 businesses on the beaches, and the state of emergency does not help our economic vitality at all,” Miller said. “There can be ramifications outside of the Bay area, if there is a state of emergency issued. We’ve seen it in other crisis situations, so we are proud that we have someone protecting our economy and protecting our business community.”

DeSantis highlighted signing into law SB 155 back in 2019, which established the Florida Red Tide Mitigation and Technology Development Initiative, a partnership between FWC and Mote Marine Laboratory to develop technologies and approaches to control and mitigate red tide and its impacts. The bill also provided a $3 million annual appropriation for the program for six years, for a total of $18 million in funding.