By Anna Phillips, The Washington PostBruce Hickey, 70, walks along the waterfront, now littered with debris including shrimp boats, in the mobile home park where he and his wife, Kathy, have a winter home on San Carlos Island, Fort Myers Beach, Fla., on Oct. 5, 2022, one week after the passage of Hurricane Ian.
“The legislation I signed today keep windmills off our beaches, gas in our tanks, and China out of our state,” the governor said, according to the DeSantisfriendly outlet Florida’s Voice, which was the first to report that he had signed the bill. “We’re restoring sanity in our approach to energy and rejecting the agenda of the radical green zealots.”
Earlier this month, he signed a bill banning lab-grown meat from the state, though the product isn’t commercially available. In a post on X accompanying the announcement, the governor said the law would protect Florida from “global elites” at the World Economic Forum, falsely claiming that the annual gathering of political leaders in Davos harbors plans to force the world “to eat fake meat and bugs.
“On one hand, we recognize that we’re seeing flooding and we’re seeing property damage and we’re seeing hurricanes, and we’re conveying to the public that we can build our way out of these problems,” Knecht said. “And then on the other hand, we’re turning around and saying, ‘Yeah, but climate change isn’t really real, and we don’t need to do anything about it.’”
The measure also removes language giving state officials the authority to set goals for increasing renewable energy in Florida. It ends requirements that government agencies consult a “climate-friendly” products list before making purchases, hold meetings in hotels that meet the state’s “green lodging” requirements or that agencies prioritize fuel efficiency when buying new vehicles.