GAINESVILLE – In Orlando, Carrie Black’s government job is to move Orange County toward renewable energy and reduce greenhouse gas emissions, which she says could save millions in energy costs.
As the chief sustainability and resilience officer for the county, she’s in charge of implementing a sustainability and resilience plan approved by commissioners in 2021. Recently, her team installed a solar panel array that will offset the cost of keeping the lights on at the Orange County Convention Center, the third largest in the country.
“This is to help increase resilience,” Black said. “We're taking advantage of more renewable energy sources.”
But Orange County’s plan and other initiatives like it have an uncertain future in the Sunshine State.
In Tallahassee, state lawmakers have moved to block such local efforts. Gov. Ron DeSantis signed the bill in Jacksonville on Thursday, which was celebrated as Earth Day, with a theme focused on renewable energy, accelerating the green energy transition and building a sustainable future.
"It's like, 'We're just going to stop the madness here,' and that's what this bill does,” DeSantis said. “It safeguards Floridians by prohibiting all levels of government from adopting or enforcing these radical climate policies."
The Republican-controlled Legislature passed a bill that prohibits localities from implementing carbon reduction policies like net zero, carbon taxes and cap-and-trade programs.
Net zero refers to any program designed to achieve a balance between the total amount of greenhouse gas emitted into the atmosphere with an equal amount removed from the atmosphere.
The bill passed 80-29 in the House and 24-12 in the Senate. Legislators voted almost entirely on party lines, with all Republicans except one, Rep. Alexis Calatayud, R-Miami, in favor, and all Democrats save one, Sen. Kimberly Daniels, D-Jacksonville, against.
Two years ago, DeSantis signed a bill that removed many references to “climate” from existing state laws and repealed state grant programs that encouraged energy conservation and renewable energy. The governor said at the time that he was rejecting efforts by the “left” to enact a “radical climate agenda.”
The move by GOP state lawmakers to thwart local climate efforts is just the latest on a wide array of pre-emptive issues to center power in the state Capitol and derail local efforts.
In recent years, legislators quashed LGBTQ rainbow-painted crosswalks in municipalities throughout the state, blocked Miami-Dade County from requiring shade breaks and water for outdoor workers, put in place a statewide ban on rent control, barred municipalities from enacting minimum wages above the state level, and preempted local action to regulate plastic bag use and even certain sunscreens, which Miami Beach and Key West wanted to protect coral reefs from damage. The stalled local measures are often reflective of Democratic priorities.
Republican sponsors of the effort, which takes effect July 1, said it is intended to create a unified energy policy across Florida, rather than a patchwork of measures. They said carbon reduction policies burden taxpayers and businesses with policies they didn’t request and costs they shouldn’t bear.
“How affordable is it going to be for our residents if you have local governments that are embarking on this climate crusade rather than focusing on what really matters to residents?” asked Sen. Bryan Ávila, R-Hialeah Gardens, sponsor of a bill similar to the one that DeSantis signed. Reps. John Snyder, R-Palm City, and Berny Jacques, R-Clearwater, sponsored the House bill.
Ávila told lawmakers that Miami-Dade and Broward counties purchased 117 electric buses last year for $126 million that were more expensive than standard fuel buses, citing news reporting by the Miami Herald, which said only a handful of the buses remain in commission, largely due to frequent breakdowns and the supplier filing for bankruptcy.
Democrats said the move to throttle municipalities’ green efforts erases progress local governments have made toward clean energy.
“I think taxpayers understand that their health needs to be protected,” said Rep. Kevin D. Chambliss, D-Homestead. “And, as someone who knows constituents who use public transportation, the gas buses break down all the time, too.”
He said the the City of Miami’s “Forever Carbon Neutral Plan” — which is aimed at reaching net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, with a 60% reduction below 2018 levels by 2035 — is “wildly popular.”
Chambliss decried the Legislature for big-footing municipal initiatives, frequently supported by Democrats, that are suitable at the local level.
“The Panhandle isn't like Orlando, and Miami-Dade is a whole country of its own,” he said. “That's why it's important to let the local municipalities, if they so choose, create these kinds of initiatives.”
Around the state, other local governments have already enacted their own climate change plans. They include Doral’s efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 10-15%, and Leon and Alachua counties’ efforts to reduce such emissions. Each of the plans cite initiatives like increasing energy efficiency in buildings and focusing on enhancing public transportation.
Environmentalists like Katie Bauman, the Florida policy manager with the Surfrider Foundation, which focuses on protecting coastlines, said the bill’s language ties the hands of local governments trying to protect communities from rising sea levels and stronger storms.
“This sweeping language is very broad in what it prohibits, which leads to questions about what local governments can no longer do,” Bauman said. “We're concerned this bill is going to ultimately leave Florida less resilient, less prepared and less capable of protecting communities, beaches and places that we love right now and for the future.”
She added, “We are one of the most vulnerable states to changing climates and sea level rise, and that really needs to be where our lawmakers are focused.”
Opponents of the legislation say it is so broad they are concerned any local government action that includes emissions reduction efforts may be at risk.
Dawn Shirreffs, the Florida director of the Environmental Defense Fund, said another concern is the possible chilling effect this bill could have on future grants or programs.
She cited methane mitigation as one example. Shirreffs said there are more than 15 businesses in the state operating to reduce methane pollution. She said communities might feel like they can't use those kinds of services because it would trigger a violation of a net-zero ban.
The bill requires local governments to sign an annual affidavit under penalty of perjury promising to comply with the provisions of the legislation. Additionally, local governments would not be allowed to enter into agreements with organizations that promote net-zero or carbon trading policies.
Rep. Anna Eskamani, D-Orlando, said language in the bill was overly broad and could also call into question the legality of tree-planting efforts, infrastructure modernization and energy-efficient buildings — like the Orange County Convention Center that Black works with.
“We're all working on trying to do our part to reduce our contributions to carbon and pollution,” said Black, the county’s resilience officer. “We're all just working on tailoring it to our kind of local jurisdictions and our operations in our communities.”
This story was produced by Fresh Take Florida, a news service of the University of Florida College of Journalism and Communications. The reporter can be reached at zherukhamarta@ufl.edu. You can donate to support our students here.
