Gov. DeSantis proposes plan to address rising global temperatures

On Tuesday, Republican governor of Florida, Ron DeSantis, revealed a plan for the state to start addressing the effects of rising global temperatures.

The three-year plan would spend $270 million on over 76 projects across the state to help with issues like coastal flooding, which several studies say has been worsened by increasing temperatures.

DeSantis was careful in how he framed the plan in terms of taking action against climate change. “What I’ve found is when people start talking about things like global warming,” he said, “they typically use that as a pretext to do a bunch of left-wing things that they would want to do anyways. And so we’re not doing any left-wing stuff.” He made his comments at a news conference on Tuesday. 

Like several aspects of President Joe Biden’s Build Back Better and infrastructure plans, money would be used in DeSantis’ proposal would be spent hardening the state’s coastal defenses from increasing sea levels.

Funds will also go toward building stormwater pumps in low-lying coastal communities as well as burying cables to address the idea of stronger hurricanes being caused by warmer oceans. The state could also use money appropriated by the plan to purchase flood-prone properties.

“We’re a low-lying state, we’re a storm-prone state and we’re a flood-prone state,” DeSantis added. “And so we worked with the Legislature to say, OK, how are we going to address this in a way that’s going to protect Florida’s communities, protect economic livelihood and make sure we’re doing what we need to do.” 

DeSantis’ plan will need to be approved by the Republican-led state Legislature, which did not pass a similar measure brought by former Gov. Charlie Crist.