4 ms·

As a temporary citizen of Florida, the politics down here are pretty atavistic: I'm pretty sure half the people in office occupy half their time with graft, and

by ethbr0 4y ago

As a temporary citizen of Florida, the politics down here are pretty atavistic: I'm pretty sure half the people in office occupy half their time with graft, and that's the standard. But The state really does seem to take the environment and (ironically) climate change more seriously than other places. At least in the impact sense (yet still 75% natural gas electrical generation, because deregulation). I guess getting hit by hurricanes and storm surges regularly focuses the mind? Plus Florida is essentially is a few bits of dry land in a bog (the highest point in the state is 100 meters above sea level), so state management is water and wetlands management.

MisterBastahrd 4y ago
Most of the money in Florida is concentrated in the lower half of the state, deeper in the peninsula where it's more vulnerable to climate change. Also, just because these turnarounds happen in states doesn't mean that state governments are primarily responsible. Florida doesn't have the resources available to do this on their own.
- gabereiser 4y ago
  With no state income tax, we definitely don't have the money.
  - ethbr0 4y ago
    https://www.statista.com/statistics/248932/us-state-government-tax-revenue-by-state/ https://www.statista.com/statistics/248932/us-state-governme... Sales and real estate tax ads up quickly when you're a tourist economy.
    - gabereiser 4y ago
      Follow that money, it’s doesn’t go where they say.
      - ethbr0 4y ago
        Be that as it may, Florida has a pretty large budget relative to other states. Not California, but it's definitely not poor either.
        gabereiser 4y ago
        Its budget is proportional to it's size in population and land. Of course Florida has a bigger budget than Vermont, or Virginia. More people, more land, more taxes on tourists, etc. It's not about the size of the budget, but rather budget per resident, and where that money goes. I've lived in Florida for a long time. I've lived in other states too. It's what Florida does with that money that has me shaking my head. War with Disney, Anti-LGBTQ legislation, book burning, government waste, poor roads outside of I-4 and I-95. Toll Roads everywhere. Ugh...
        ethbr0 4y ago
        You're conflating a ton of unrelated issues. Florida has more than enough budget to perform serious mitigation work if they want to. If I did my math right, Florida has a budget of $112b against a population of 22m and an area of 170,000 km2. Or ~$5,000/pp or ~$660,000/km2. As an example, Texas has a budget of $250b against a population of 29m and an area of 700,000 km2. Or ~$8,600/pp or ~$360,000/km2. Add in the amount of Florida services funded through Medicare and Social Security, and it seems normal. Certainly not poor by any means.
culi 4y ago
> because deregulation Not just "deregulation". DeSantis has actively banned cities from restricting fossil fuels. He's also punished banks that refuse to invest in fossil fuel. I think it's a bit disingenuous to categorize that as "de-" regulation.
- ethbr0 4y ago
  Florida's electrical mix pre-dates the current governor. As near as I can tell, they've historically shunned capital-intensive plant innovation, and just kept building natural gas. They're starting to get some solar now, at least.
  - cool_dude85 4y ago
    Nuclear power has had some recent embarrassments in Florida that I think are enough to put most of the average voters in a lot of the state off. I won't go into details, but check out what happened to the Crystal River plant, the "planned expansion" at Turkey Point that FPL customers paid a boatload for which never came to pass, and or course no nuclear story in the South would be complete without mention of Vogtle.
    - throwawaaarrgh 4y ago
      FPL was caught doing some incredibly bad political stuff in recent years. It's kind of horrifying, the lengths they'll go just to keep their profits up. But Floridians by and large don't seem to care much what happens in the state, as long as it stays red.

by ethbr0 4y ago

MisterBastahrd 4y ago

Most of the money in Florida is concentrated in the lower half of the state, deeper in the peninsula where it's more vulnerable to climate change. Also, just because these turnarounds happen in states doesn't mean that state governments are primarily responsible. Florida doesn't have the resources available to do this on their own.

gabereiser 4y ago
With no state income tax, we definitely don't have the money.
- ethbr0 4y ago
  https://www.statista.com/statistics/248932/us-state-government-tax-revenue-by-state/ https://www.statista.com/statistics/248932/us-state-governme... Sales and real estate tax ads up quickly when you're a tourist economy.
  - gabereiser 4y ago
    Follow that money, it’s doesn’t go where they say.
    - ethbr0 4y ago
      Be that as it may, Florida has a pretty large budget relative to other states. Not California, but it's definitely not poor either.
      - gabereiser 4y ago
        Its budget is proportional to it's size in population and land. Of course Florida has a bigger budget than Vermont, or Virginia. More people, more land, more taxes on tourists, etc. It's not about the size of the budget, but rather budget per resident, and where that money goes. I've lived in Florida for a long time. I've lived in other states too. It's what Florida does with that money that has me shaking my head. War with Disney, Anti-LGBTQ legislation, book burning, government waste, poor roads outside of I-4 and I-95. Toll Roads everywhere. Ugh...
        ethbr0 4y ago
        You're conflating a ton of unrelated issues. Florida has more than enough budget to perform serious mitigation work if they want to. If I did my math right, Florida has a budget of $112b against a population of 22m and an area of 170,000 km2. Or ~$5,000/pp or ~$660,000/km2. As an example, Texas has a budget of $250b against a population of 29m and an area of 700,000 km2. Or ~$8,600/pp or ~$360,000/km2. Add in the amount of Florida services funded through Medicare and Social Security, and it seems normal. Certainly not poor by any means.

culi 4y ago

> because deregulation Not just "deregulation". DeSantis has actively banned cities from restricting fossil fuels. He's also punished banks that refuse to invest in fossil fuel. I think it's a bit disingenuous to categorize that as "de-" regulation.

ethbr0 4y ago
Florida's electrical mix pre-dates the current governor. As near as I can tell, they've historically shunned capital-intensive plant innovation, and just kept building natural gas. They're starting to get some solar now, at least.
- cool_dude85 4y ago
  Nuclear power has had some recent embarrassments in Florida that I think are enough to put most of the average voters in a lot of the state off. I won't go into details, but check out what happened to the Crystal River plant, the "planned expansion" at Turkey Point that FPL customers paid a boatload for which never came to pass, and or course no nuclear story in the South would be complete without mention of Vogtle.
  - throwawaaarrgh 4y ago
    FPL was caught doing some incredibly bad political stuff in recent years. It's kind of horrifying, the lengths they'll go just to keep their profits up. But Floridians by and large don't seem to care much what happens in the state, as long as it stays red.