Bill awaiting DeSantis' OK would end years of renewable energy policies

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — A bill sitting on Gov. Ron DeSantis’ desk would end the state’s support of renewable and clean energy and keep Florida reliant on fossil fuels, critics say.

If signed, the law would reverse 16 years of state policy, finishing the work started by former Gov. Rick Scott and undoing Gov. Charlie Crist’s signature piece of environmental legislation.

Most troubling to environmentalists, it would eliminate any mention of climate change, even though mostly flat Florida is extremely vulnerable to global warming, as already seen with rising waters in the Keys, Miami Beach and Tampa Bay.

The bill (HB 1645) would ban offshore wind power while encouraging exploring emerging technologies in nuclear energy, a frightening prospect to those who remember nuclear plants at Chernobyl, Three Mile Island and Crystal River.

“I think it really forces us to back away from the progress we’ve been trying to make,” said state Rep. Lindsay Cross, D-St. Petersburg, an environmental scientist.

For example, she said, the state has invested more than $1.6 billion in Florida climate resiliency grants, encouraging “local governments to be more prepared, but in the same breath saying they don’t believe in climate change.”

And it signals that state officials will no longer encourage using alternative and renewable energy sources, she said.

The measure would repeal a law Crist enacted in 2008 as a Republican that launched efforts to battle climate change and back renewable energy. It had the support of Arnold Schwarzenegger, the Republican governor of California.

After coming into office in 2011, Scott, now a U.S. senator, gutted much of what Crist got enacted. This year’s bill repeals what’s left of it. It passed the Legislature earlier this year with Republican support and Democratic opposition.

The bill was sent to DeSantis on Friday, and he has until May 15 to take action.

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