Advocates believe governor is unfit for emergency planning due to policies that fuel the crisis worsening storms
Ron DeSantis, Florida’s Republican governor, is back in the spotlight as he briefs residents on the arrival of Hurricane Milton, amid warnings it could be one of the most powerful storms to ever hit the state.
DeSantis, who dropped his presidential campaign in January, is as governor responsible for implementing Florida’s emergency plan by coordinating agencies, marshaling resources and urging residents to follow evacuation orders.
It’s a role he is unfit to play because of his record on the climate crisis, Florida activists say.
“Florida isn’t safe with DeSantis at the helm of our state government,” said Matthew Grocholske, 20, campaign strategy lead with the Orlando, Florida, chapter of the youth-led Sunrise Movement.
Less than two weeks after it was slammed by the deadly Hurricane Helene, the state is bracing for Hurricane Milton, a category 5 storm.
Florida environmentalists say that DeSantis’s policies to boost fossil fuels, suppress carbon-free energy and ignore global heating have fueled the climate crisis that has exacerbated such hurricanes.
Asked to comment on the criticism from environmentalists, Julia Friedland, the governors’s deputy press secretary, said: “You, and your publication, are despicable for running nonsense stories like this the day a major hurricane is making landfall in Florida.”
DeSantis on Wednesday urged millions of Floridians in Milton’s expected path to evacuate. “We are bracing and are prepared to receive a major hit,” he said.
Hurricanes – including Helene – are becoming more dangerous due to the climate crisis, caused primarily by the burning of fossil fuels. DeSantis’s policies have fueled that crisis with his policies and rhetoric, climate advocates say.
“When it comes to our climate crisis, Ron DeSantis is easily the worst governor in Florida’s history,” said Delaney Reynolds, 25, a PhD student in climate resilience at the University of Miami and lead plaintiff in a 2018 youth-led climate lawsuit against the state government.
DeSantis’s opposition to climate action began early in his career. One day after taking office in 2013, the then congressman voted against a measure proposed after Hurricane Sandy to guarantee people could collect on federal flood insurance claims.
