Delegation mates Rep. Carlos Curbelo and Rep. Francis Rooney separately gave interviews that shared an underlying theme: the need to address climate change, particularly in Florida, is urgent.
“The more we can publicize the reality of sea level rise and the risk to a lot of places that are low, maybe some of those people will realize that you can be a plenty good conservative Republican on border security, on foreign affairs, on taxes, on business, and still care about the environment and whether you are going to get flooded,” Rooney said in an interview with the Washington Examiner. Our sea level challenges will be really serious along our coast, with how many people who live along our coast. If we are going to have more powerful storms, and we are going to suffer more rain events in these low areas, does it make sense spending all this money for floods when you could have remediated it in the first place? Why spend all this money on these repetitive loss properties every time there is a hurricane. It’s kind of ridiculous isn’t it? An ounce of prevention is better than a pound of cure.”
Likewise, Curbelo, appearing on CNN, noted “human beings are affecting the environment in an adverse way… if we do not take care of our environment, it’s going to hurt our economy.” The South Florida economy relies on tourism, fisheries, recreational boats and other related industries impacted by sea level rise. His message to all lawmakers: “Accept the science. It’s real. Let’s start focusing on the solutions that we need. And by the way, if we’re going to get any solutions we need Republicans and Democrats working together.”