Florida simply took an enormous step backward within the clear vitality revolution. Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a piece of legislation into regulation earlier this week that requires Florida cities and cities to hold utilizing fossil fuels and will strangle their capability to set clear vitality objectives and mandates.
The invoice, SB 1128/HB 919, is similar to a slew of different payments which have entered state legislatures over the previous 12 months. These items of laws, which have been dubbed “ban the ban” bills, are sponsored by oil and gasoline pursuits. They’re a part of a flurry of public lobbying and non-public panic from the business in response to the rising variety of cities shifting to ban pure gasoline hookups in new development. With its passage, Florida joins Texas, Louisiana, Tennessee, Arizona, and Oklahoma in banning new pure gasoline hookups in buildings; at the very least eight different states thought-about related payments this 12 months. And, like many of those payments, Florida’s new regulation has the backing of the state pure gasoline affiliation and different company pursuits.
“It definitely is following the national trend we’re seeing pushed by the natural gas industry,” mentioned Alissa Jean Schafer, a analysis and communications specialist on the Energy and Policy Institute who has been monitoring the invoice.
But Florida’s invoice goes a step additional than most. The language within the brief invoice is far broader than its siblings; it says that cities “may not enact or enforce a resolution, ordinance, rule, code, policy, or take any action that restricts or prohibits or has the effect of restricting or prohibiting the types or fuel sources of energy production.” Proponents of the invoice say that this language is supposed to encourage “energy choice” for Floridians, a time period the gasoline business has thrown round because it tries to defend towards gasoline bans. But this phrasing, Schaefer mentioned, opens the invoice as much as a number of interpretation, and might be learn as probably proscribing cities from banning fossil fuels altogether.
“Sometimes they introduce broad language and then it gets amended, a finer point put on it, but this pretty much went through as-is,” Schaefer mentioned. “It creates a pretty aggressive precedent.”
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Tlisted here are some major cities in Florida with 100% renewable vitality targets, together with Tallahassee, Gainesville, Orlando, Satellite Beach, Dunedin, Largo, Safety Harbor, St. Petersburg, Sarasota, and South Miami Beach. Even although cities don’t typically have a say within the vitality combine their utilities use, these cities, Schaefer defined, are in a novel place to ship a sign that they care about the place their vitality comes from. Now, these alerts might be stifled at a time when Florida—and the world—desperately must wind down carbon air pollution.
“We’re seeing the impacts of climate change already in Florida, so cities are trying to do whatever they can to move the needle,” she mentioned. “They’re using whatever political power they have to say this is the goal. And as cities are making these goals, it sends a signal to the legislators and utilities that this is important.”
But this invoice, Schaefer mentioned, might lengthen broadly, probably proscribing cities from making adjustments in areas like vitality effectivity codes and constructing laws, or from working schooling campaigns about local weather change and clear vitality.
“The bill leaves a lot up to interpretation,” she mentioned. “We regularly see utilities fight nonbinding resolutions anyways. Now that this is in their back pocket, is this just going to give them ammo?”
According to Schaefer, politicians pushing the invoice within the Florida House have mentioned that it wouldn’t be used towards native cities, and municipalities seeking to set their very own vitality objectives. But she mentioned she sees hypocrisy there.
“To me, it’s very disingenuous to say you can make a goal on the one hand, and on the other hand pass legislation that prevents that goal from being met,” she mentioned. “It’s a slap in the face to local elected officials trying to pass these resolutions.”
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