Issue Position: Environment and Energy

Issue Position

Few issues are more important to me personally than making the most of the unique opportunity we have to preserve the environment. In 2008, I passed the Clean Oceans Act to protect our ocean and beaches from pollution. The legislation stops day cruises from dumping waste off our coastline. It ensures that one of our most valuable natural resources, our ocean, will be available for future generations to enjoy.

Florida Forever is another program than I have been proud to support. Our state is blessed with abundant natural resources and since the program's inception in 2001, our state has purchased and protected over 500,000 acres of environmentally sensitive land at a cost of almost $2 billion to Florida taxpayers. As a father of three young children, I want to ensure our state's beauty can be enjoyed by future generations, and this program is vital to that vision. I support Florida Forever because the program:

- enhances the vitality of endangered animal species,

- cultivates water resources and supplies,

- creates recreational and educational environmental settings,

- preserves archaeological and historical sites, and

- increases the amount of forestland and urban greenspaces in every part of Florida.

Locally, the Indian River Lagoon Blueway Project has already preserved nearly 4,000 acres around our community's unique estuary.

In challenging economic times, however, our state needs focus first on funding priorities like education, healthcare and keeping violent criminals behind bars. To ensure that we continue to do our best to protect the environment in our state, we also need to look at creative alternatives to preserve environmentally sensitive land. This should include a closer look at the use of incentives for conservation easements, an agreement which allows landowners to agree to keep certain areas undeveloped in exchange for tax exemptions or other benefits. Such agreements are ideal low-cost solutions to preserve open and green spaces without the need for government to purchase and maintain it.

We should also take the initiative to promote the use of cleaner fuel technologies. One promising solution is cellulosic ethanol, which utilizes plant wastes rather than corn to produce more energy with lower emissions than traditional ethanol. With cellulosic ethanol, we can:

- reduce our dependence on foreign oil,

- reduce the cost of fuel, possibly to $1.30 per gallon,

- reduce potentially harmful emissions by 88 percent,

- increase economic activity in our agricultural areas, and

- provide surplus electricity to our power grids through the combustion of plant residues.

In addition, the Legislature has adopted incentives for the sale of biofuels, the use of renewable energies, including solar power, and the purchase of energy-efficient appliances. We must also encourage the safe use of nuclear power, which emits no combustion byproducts and already produces 15 percent of Florida's energy from three power plants. In 2006, we streamlined the approval process for the construction of nuclear power plants, and we expect to see plans for at least three new sites in the near future.

Source