(Miami) The White House and elected Democrats strongly criticized on Thursday a new law in Florida, promulgated the day before by its Republican governor Ron DeSantis, which removes references to climate change from official state texts.
This legislation is a “disgrace”, commented the spokesperson for the federal executive, Karine Jean-Pierre.
“Climate change is an indisputable fact,” responded Frederica Wilson, a Democratic representative who represents Florida in the House of Representatives of Congress.
This state in the southeast of the country, known for its almost constant sunshine, suffered record temperatures during a summer heatwave last year.
This did not prevent Ron DeSantis, unsuccessful candidate for the Republican nomination for the November presidential election against Donald Trump, from defending and signing the new law satisfying his many climate-sceptical voters.
“The legislation I signed into law today […] will keep wind turbines off our beaches, but gasoline in our tanks and keep China out of our state,” the governor said.
“We are restoring common sense to our approach to energy and rejecting the agenda of radical green fanatics,” added Mr. DeSantis, known for fighting against lockdowns during the COVID-19 pandemic and against what he considers to be undue rights granted to transgender people.