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 serve 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.
–Mitch Perry, Florida Phoenix
R.S. says
He needs to figure out what to do about it? Where has he been? In some cave on the moon? The scientific community has clearly expressed a consensus that the climate change is the result of human activity. What needs to change, thus, is human activity. Humanity needs to stop driving gas guzzlers, digging up fossil fuels, and risking major calamity with nuclear power production. It’s not a plot of the Chinese, who are miles ahead of us in the production of electric vehicles already. If he is still working at trying to figure out what to do, he’s not ready and probably never will be ready for leadership. My vote goes for Ms. Debbie Mucarsel-Powell.
Dennis C Rathsam says
Ric was there!!!! wheres Debbie? FL got rid of her once…Like a bad penny shes back!
DaleL says
U.S. voters got rid of Donald once. Like a plug nickle he’s back! I agree with R.S. mostly. However, more nuclear power is needed. Wind and solar are good, but they are not 24/7. They are also not suitable for all locations. Florida is good for solar, but not so for wind power.
I didn’t buy an EV to save the planet. I drive it for the zip (0-60 in 5 seconds) and convenience. It is also surprisingly good on long road trips. The 20 to 25 minutes it takes to fast DC charge is enough time to stretch my legs and use a bathroom.
Our planet was fine when it was frozen under a lot of ice 20,000 years ago and when it was balmy warm 55,000,000 years ago. (Alligators lived then in what is now Alaska.) We need to reduce carbon emissions not to save the “planet”, but rather to save ourselves.
Tired of it says
People like Scott visiting disaster areas is a nightmare for those there trying to cope with the aftermath. They do t for the photo ops not because it really helps anyone. Police and workers have to stop what they are doing to show the visiting “celebrity”around. I ‘ll take Debbie over the guy who was head of the company that committed the biggest Medicare fraud in our history.
JimboXYZ says
Reality is Hurricane Andrew was easily more storm than Hurricane Helene. Andrew was Homestead to Kendall, (Miami) FL. I lived in Country Walk, FL from Jan 2014-Feb 2016, a residential community with a population of 10.6K in 2000 that is now 17K in 2020, up from 16K in 2010 per US Census. in an area 2.62 sq mi. Comparatively Perry FL population is 6.9K in 2020. Take your pick, weaker Helene hitting Perry, FL or more powerful Andrew hitting Miami, FL. The difference is damages in terms of inflation. FPL has restored power to 85% of Helene FL victims within 12 hours. Restoration from Andrew took weeks & months. That’s if there was anything to restore power to from Homestead to Kendall, FL. Not that anyone would want to see anyone suffer,m but if you were making that hard decision of Perry vs South Miami that there had to be anyone suffering, it’s a no brainer for human suffering & economic devastation for cost. Makes you wonder what Hurricane Andrew damages would be valued at in terms of Biden-Harris inflation dollars ? Andrew was $ 27.3 billion in 1992 dollars. Helene > $ 22 billion in 2024 dollars. the link provided suggest that’s $ 61.25 billion. Considering that housing has doubled under Biden-Harris that seems accurate. Andrew’s economical cost was nearly 3X that of what Helene’s was. So are the storms stronger ? Real “scientific” & “economic” data suggests Helene was just the strongest & costliest in 2024 to date.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Andrew
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Country_Walk,_Florida
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Helene
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perry,_Florida
https://www.in2013dollars.com/us/inflation/1992?amount=1
Deborah Coffey says
Just admit it, Jimbo, you just love thieves and fraudsters.
Rick Scott– Medicare fraud deposition– took the 5th Amendment 75 times
Donald Trump–adjudicated rapist, tax fraudster, convicted felon
‘Nough said.
JimboXYZ says
I thought the conversation was probably lagging with Skeletor (Rick Scott) and this was where his reply went. I stand by my post of facts. Here are a couple more Hurricanes from 2005 that make Helene & what scientists are saying about CC/GW as even more absurd. Katrina & Rita was 19 years ago. The population was smaller, less consumption & pollution, Between Andrew,Katrina & Rita those 3 hurricanes, max sustained winds were Cat 6 & approaching Tornado 200 mph winds. They had to fabricate a new record for Helene for how fast it went from TS to Cat 3/4 ? Not that they ever were watching that before to make enough of an issue of that ?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Katrina
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Rita
How come nobody was pressing the issue of Isaac & Joyce ? Tropical Storms at the moment that are byproducts of the same CC/GW they were trying to corner Rick Scott on for Helene. They’re going to find that most of the deaths attributed to Helene are Dam failures in the Mountains of N GA and above. Flooded Rivers & Lakes with mud slides. Just me, but more have died when Helene was a Tropical Storm than died in FL when it made landfall as a cat 4.
https://www.nhc.noaa.gov/xgtwo/two_atl_2d0.png
I guess my point is, that asking any politician their opinion on CC/GW & Hurricane Helene/2024 hurricane season in the aftermath of Helene is misinformed time filler for an interview. It’s as elusive as Kamala Harris answers on a softball question in her interviews. You know she was a middle class girl that was bussed to school in the 1970’s.
Janet Frith says
You are just as Crooked as all the rest of them!
Just look at the history!
Stop trying to bring Humans to your level of Stupidity!
I not need to say another thing!
DaleL says
Jimbo, you should wait for the “rest of the story”. Ashville, SC has been devastated. Florida is more prepared than most of the SE USA for a huge fast moving storm such as Helene. However inland, Helene changed and slowed. It dumped a huge amount of rain.
As the climate warms, there is more equatorial heat to be transferred to the poles. Some of it is conveyed by ocean currents. Much of it is by air currents. In extreme cases it is by tropical cyclones such as hurricanes.
Presidents influence the economy and inflation, vice-presidents do not. We just got past the worst of the Trump-Biden inflation period. You may have forgotten that 4 years ago Mr. Trump handled the COVID-19 pandemic poorly. He also handled the George Floyd protests poorly. Trump’s administration handed out stimulus money to boost the stagnated economy. Biden’s administration then handed out even more stimulus money. The result of “free” money chasing supply chain constrained goods caused a spike in inflation.
Instead of looking back to the mythical greatness of 5 years ago (4 years ago was bad.), look forward to 4 years in the future. Trump said the quiet part of his intent out loud when he was speaking to Evangelical Christians. He said that if he is elected, they would not have to vote again. Choose reason over anger. Choose truth over lies. Choose Country over Party. Above all, choose a very flawed democracy over a dictatorship.
JimboXYZ says
Yet another perspective, as Climate Change/Global Warming is responsible for Hurricane Helene & others, then CC/GW is also responsible for Hurricane Isaac & now even TS Joyce, which are middle of the Atlantic Ocean Hurricanes sputtering northward to not make landfall, the worst of it isn’t anything more than a good day of surfing for beach erosion ? Are there random benefits/penalties for CC/GW ? The bigger picture of a lifetime is something that none of the experts are asking questions for interviews, going to summits & lecturing on that isn’t a fear monger or donation drive for research dollars that pays the experts quite well for really having zero solutions or even control of.
I do know one thing about growth in Flagler County. There used to be a treeline surrounding the treeline at the end of my property. That treeline served as a buffer for the abuse of the treeline that most likely will fail to protect the dwelling on my property. Nobody’s going to take credit for that the day any debris is airborne, any tree(s) topple(s) and damages a dwelling. But the insurance company will certainly raise homeowner’s insurance premiums, while finding larger hurricane & tornado deductibles & reasons not to pay out for what the purpose of insurance actually was created to do. Natural disasters are obviously big business. Those that profit from the miseries of natural phenomena.
Deborah Coffey says
Your last paragraph, Jimbo, indicates something you don’t seem to know…you’ve got a Democrat hidden inside you somewhere. Come join us! We’ll get those insurance company profits down to a reasonable amount.
CEO State Farm: Michael Tipsord earned $24.4 million in 2022
CEO Allstate: Tom Wilson earned $18.9 million in 2022
CEO USAA: Wayne Peacock earned $8.1 million in 2023 (a 69% increase from his 2022 earnings)
CEO Progressive: Tricia Griffith total compensation in 2023 was $15.6 million
You get the idea.
JimboXYZ says
But all that happened under Biden-Harris, we’re supposed to believe she’s going to do that in the next 4 years that she wasn’t able to do anything about in the 1st 4 years. I’ve seen enough from Biden-Harris that Harris-Walz is watching the same movie & expecting it to end differently. Let’s see, she needs 4 more years to fix this here in 2024 ? I can see the 2028 sequel to her 2024 movie, she’ll need another 4 more years to fix what she didn’t fix 2020-2028. Better to move on from that in 2024. I’ll take my chances with Trump-Vance here in 2024. I don’t know that even Trump can fix this, but at least he didn’t cause the inflation.
Ray W says
Yes, JimboXYZ, Trump is responsible for a significant part of the inflation we have experienced since the pandemic. No one can spend $2.9 trillion in unfunded stimulus money to heat up a cooling economy without being responsible for some of the inflation that followed. The most appropriate term is Trudenflation.
Deborah Coffey says
LOL. So, Rick Scott had to repeat grades K-12 before he finally figured out that almost all the world’s climate scientists have been correct for years? And, he still doesn’t know what to do about it…but “something” should be done?
Oh, BTW, he actually put into writing that he wants to bring your Social Security and Medicare up for a vote in Congress every 5 years…hoping, of course, it will all get voted down and be gone forever.
DEBBIE MUCARSEL-POWELL needs to defeat this goof ball and fraudster!
BillC says
Remember this?
“While Rick Scott was CEO of Columbia/HCA Hospital, he oversaw the biggest Medicare fraud in US history and was fined $1.7 billion, which was the largest healthcare fraud fine ever levied by the DOJ.”
—-Newsweek Feb. 2023
Re: climate change- Rick Scott is one of the last to figure it out. Not a great quality for a leader.
JW says
Scott is infected by the latest pandemic: MAGA ignorance. It rages through politicians without the courage to admit the truth or even to think.
This time it is not COVID but the cause is clearly Trump.
Please educate yourself: engage your BRAIN and not your gut (that’s the lazy way!); read and critically listen what is happening in this world.
Your gut can only vote for ignorance. Brains vote for Harris!
Laurel says
Rick Scott has a lot of money coming from somewhere (big oil?) saturating the market with tons of ads against Debbie Mucarsel-Powell with no mention of Scott! Apparently, it’s better to condemn Scott’s rival that to try to talk up Scott! We all know better!
Bob says
Best informed estimate “If CO₂ and CH₄ were reduced to preindustrial levels today, Earth’s temperature could peak in the next few decades (20-30 years) before stabilizing over the course of the century.”
Given current conditions it doesn’t take much thought to see where this is going in 20 to 30 years. The Florida insurance market will collapse, and home values will plummet, and Florida will become the exit-only-state, thanks to decades of Republican leaders and their financier’s lying about climate science.
So thank you Rick Scott for small favors.
Bob says
The informed estimate is that if we limited CO2 and CH4 emissions to preindustrial levels earth’s warming will continue to increase for the next 20 to 30 years. So, in terms of an insurance market, Florida is pretty much ruined over the next 20 years. Noone will want to live in a state where insurance is utterly out of reach for all but the rich.
The Republicans and their financiers have fought climate science for decades and this is one of the reasons why the situation has gotten so severe. And now, only truly drastic measures are left. So, thanks, Rick Scott for too little too late.
This is not to be taken as a reason to assume that it’s too late to save America. If we fight it tooth and nail there is hope, but not for Florida.
Laurel says
When asked if Ivanka Trump had insurance, she said “No, thank God!”
The rich don’t need insurance.