Florida U.S. Sen. Rick Scott acknowledged Friday in the devastating aftermath of Hurricane Helene that the climate is “clearly changing,” adding: “We’ve gotta figure out how do we react to that.”
Scott travelled through parts of the state speaking to law enforcement and first responders a day after the Category 4 hurricane caused record storm surge up the west coast and Big Bend region of Florida, with at least seven deaths in the state attributed to the storm.
The Naples Republican was interviewed on CNN, where anchor Dana Bash observed that the intensity of Helene, described by the Washington Post as one of the biggest storm systems to hit the U.S., appeared part of a trend in which storms “are simply bigger than they once were, perhaps because of climate change.”
“Who knows?” Scott replied. “Who knows what the reason is, but something is changing. Massive storms. Massive storm surge. So we’ve got to figure this out.”
Bash followed up by asking, “When you say, ‘something’s going on,’ isn’t it pretty obvious that the climate is changing, and that is changing the size of these storms and making them as big as you just described?”
“Absolutely, something’s changed, and the climate’s clearly changing, and what we’ve gotta do is, like, when I was governor, I spent a whole bunch of money on resiliency [and] sea level rise issues and beach renourishment issues, and I tried to make our state more resilient,” he said.
“We know things are changing. We’ve gotta figure out how do we react to that,” he added.
Scott served as Florida governor from 2010 and 2018 and was criticized by environmentalists for his inattention to climate issues. “I’m not a scientist,” he said in 2014.
At one point, a group of 10 Florida scientists sent Scott a letter referring to the “impact of human-induced global warming” as they expressed interest in helping him understand what was happening with the climate so he could make the necessary decisions to protect the state. He ended up meeting with five of those scientists.
At another point in his tenure, former state employees reported that Scott’s administration had directed them to avoid using the phrase “climate change,” although Scott denied the allegation.
Scott’s comment about “who knows?” what is contributing to massive storms like Helene stunned some climate change advocates.
‘We know’
“Well, we know,” said Susan Glickman, who has worked on climate issues in Florida for decades and now serves as vice president for policy and partnerships with the CLEO Institute.
“We know that Rick Scott has invested tens of millions of dollars in gas and utility companies that spew climate pollution. And we know they benefited from his votes. We know that – in part due to actions by Rick Scott – Florida is dangerously over-reliant on methane gas for power – around 75%,” Glickman added in a text message sent to the Phoenix.
“And we know that climate pollution from Scott’s gas investments is warming the planet. We know warming melts glaciers, raising sea levels. Rick Scott may not know, but we do, that sea rise contributes to the historic storm surge we’re seeing.
“And we know that, because of warming, we are experiencing unparalleled rapid intensification from hot ocean temperatures. And we also know that Rick Scott has some responsibility for the fact that power bills are through the roof. He approved power plants and pipelines that we never needed.”
Ron DeSantis, who succeeded Scott in 2019 as governor of Florida, has also invested millions of dollars in resiliency efforts. He signed legislation earlier this year that erased the words “climate change” from state statutes and restructured the state’s fossil fuel-based energy policy to play down climate change as a priority when making energy policy decisions.
Scott is running for re-election to his Senate seat this fall against Democratic challenger Debbie Mucarsel-Powell.
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