Mark FerruloAs the November election fast approaches, Gov. Rick Scott has been barnstorming across the state, touting his environmental record while promising to spend millions on land conservation and crack down on polluters. But when it comes to protecting public health and our state’s natural resources, Scott’s record stands in stark contrast to his rhetoric.
Soon after taking the oath of office, Scott launched an unprecedented anti-environment agenda that has reshaped the institutions and laws intended to protect our wildlife, natural treasures, open space and precious water supplies.
Within six months of taking office, Scott signed into law a bill that dismantled the Florida Department of Community Affairs, eliminating the agency charged with assuring responsible and sustainable growth across the state. At the same time, Scott attacked water management districts by slashing their revenues and forcing staff layoffs — despite a state water crisis that has since gotten worse.
One of the core missions of state government, protecting public health and the environment, has been tossed aside under Scott’s leadership. More personnel have been put in place that mirror Scott’s Tea Party driven, anti-regulation agenda — an agenda that puts the interests of his corporate campaign donors above what’s best for the citizens of Florida.
Under Scott, the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) laid off 58 employees in 2012 alone. Some who were fired went public with allegations that the DEP had been easing regulations on industrial plants and big developers. Moreover, environmental enforcement actions have declined substantially under Scott, and in 2013 the DEP fired several attorneys who vigorously prosecuted pollution enforcement cases.
In his first year in office, Scott proposed ending all funding for the Florida Forever land conservation program. In his second year, the budget Scott signed included only a fraction of what previous governors, including Republican governors, had dedicated to this nationally renowned preservation and public recreation program.
Scott has given polluters a blank check to pollute the Everglades. He accepted a $100,000 campaign contribution from U.S. Sugar after signing a bill that reduced the cleanup cost on sugar growers responsible for much of the Everglades pollution. The new law even lets the growers off the hook from paying for their pollution altogether in 13 years — whether the water flowing through our Everglades on its way to The Keys remains polluted or not.
Most notably, despite overwhelming scientific evidence, Scott refuses to acknowledge that humans are affecting the climate. Scott has repeatedly responded to questions about climate change by saying “I am not a scientist.”
In August he met briefly with a group of Florida scientists after refusing to meet with them initially. In the meeting, Scott mostly engaged in small talk, didn’t ask a single substantive question, and has yet to acknowledge the threat of climate change, much less offer any plan or idea for addressing it.
The Scott administration and his allies’ anti-environment crusade even extends beyond Florida. Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi used Florida tax dollars to support a polluters’ lawsuit opposing the Chesapeake Bay Clean Water Blueprint.
Why in the world would our tax dollars be used to oppose a clean-up plan for Chesapeake Bay? Because the fertilizer industry and big developers wanted it so, that’s why.
The future of Florida’s land and water is at a critical juncture. Now more than ever we need political leaders who will stand up to corporate polluters, protect our unique ecology and defend public health.
No amount of election year pandering will reverse Scott’s awful record when it comes to protecting Florida’s land and water. You certainly don’t need to be a scientist to know that.
Mark Ferrulo is executive director of Progress Florida. Column courtesy of Context Florida.
