Gov. Ron DeSantis signs law erasing climate change from Florida policy

May 15 (UPI) -- With summer's extreme heat and this year's hurricane season rolling into Florida next month, Gov. Ron DeSantis signed legislation Wednesday that will erase climate change from state policy effective July 1.

The new law will erase the words "climate change" from state statutes and make energy a top priority to ensure "an adequate, reliable and cost-effective supply of energy for the state in a manner that promotes the health and welfare of the public and economic growth," according to the legislative analysis.

"The legislation I signed today -- H.B. 1645, H.B. 7071 and H.B. 1331 -- will keep windmills off our beaches, gas in our tanks and China out of our state," DeSantis wrote Wednesday in a post on X.

"We're restoring sanity in our approach to energy and rejecting the agenda of the radical green zealots."

"Florida rejects the designs of the left to weaken our energy grid, pursue a radical climate agenda and promote foreign adversaries," DeSantis said in a separate post.

H.B. 1645 will ban wind farms offshore and near coastlines and prioritize the expansion of natural gas. It will require electric co-ops and cities to have hurricane restoration plans in order to receive state funding. It will protect against gas appliance bans and it repeals Obama-era climate policies.

H.B. 7071 will safeguard against foreign influence in Florida and bans the State Board of Administration from investing state funds in "CCP-linked Chinese companies."

CCP stands for the Communist Party of China.

"Global elites want to reduce the standing and influence of America and the West," DeSantis claimed.

H.B. 1331 protects against forced labor by banning companies on the state's forced labor vendor list from getting a state contract, and fining those that cannot certify their products were produced by wage labor.

Democrats and environmentalists Wednesday were quick to criticize Florida's new law.

"Floridians are on the frontlines of rising sea levels, rising extreme heat, rising property insurance prices, more frequent floods and more severe storms," said Yoca Arditi-Rocha, the CLEO Institute's executive director.

"This purposeful act of cognitive dissonance is proof that the governor and the state legislature are not acting in the best interests of Floridians, but rather to protect profits for the fossil fuel industry."

"I think it's taking us absolutely in the wrong direction," said Pinellas House Democratic Rep. Lindsay Cross. "We can't deny that climate change is happening."

"Whether you trust the 99% of scientists who do believe in climate change, we know that weather is getting worse, that we have more extreme weather patterns with a very active hurricane season predicted," Cross added.

"Combined with the destruction that we've already had in this state, stripping the words 'climate change' out of statutes isn't going to make it go away. It's just going to make us less proactive and prepared."