Memos & Research

MEMO: The Record Trump Failed to Tout in Florida

Sep 8, 2020

Contact: Emily Samsel, emily_samsel@lcv.org, 828-713-9647

To: Interested Parties
From: Emily Samsel, National Press Secretary, LCV Victory Fund
Date: September 8, 2020
Re: The Record Trump Failed to Tout in Florida

It’s no surprise that Trump tried to muddy the waters on his environmental record in Florida today. He knows that voters in Florida, especially Latinx Florida voters, care about protecting the environment. They want clean water, safe and healthy communities, and they are well aware of the impact climate change is having on their state. Trump knows that the real impact he’s having on the environment is costing him voters, but rather than actually taking action, he’s trying to greenwash his record. 

In response, LCV Victory Fund launched this new digital ad focused on Trump’s history of putting polluters’ interests over people in Florida. 

WATCH: “Payday”

Trump’s plans for off-shore drilling are dangerously chaotic. He has voiced support for drilling but now is saying he’s ordered no drilling off of Florida, Georgia and South Carolina. But it is unclear what that means — at best it’s a last-ditch effort to flip-flop on an issue he’s had four years to act on. Offshore drilling is bad for Florida, and voters there don’t like it, but it’s equally damaging for the rest of our coastal communities — as is the oil and gas drilling on land he claims can make up the difference . If this was more than  an election year ploy for Trump, we’d have seen a permanent ban on offshore drilling in his first four years. There is only one candidate for president with an unwavering plan to ban new offshore drilling in the Gulf of Mexico: Joe Biden. 

Aliki Moncrief, the Executive Director of our affiliate, Florida Conservation Voters, had this to say, “Trump’s anti-environmental record has been well documented — he has rolled back  protections for wetlands and he has allowed more water pollution from pesticides, fertilizers, and other toxic chemicals. Here in Florida, we feel the impacts of climate change every day but Trump continues to ignore science and the experts and has completely failed to protect our health and safety. Today it looks like he’s also ignoring his own harmful record. ” 

Trump’s problem in Florida is that his record tells a far different story than the one he’d like to tell. Here are just a few lowlights:

  • His rollback of wetlands protections puts about 6 million acres of Florida wetlands at risk. 
  • The replacement “Dirty Water Rule” allows more dumping of the kind of pollution that is devastating Biscayne Bay, and other waterways’, water quality. 
  • Despite ultimately reversing course on funding the minimum requirements for Everglades restoration, Trump has repeatedly proposed cutting multiple programs to protect the Everglades and protect estuaries.
  • He has also opposed efforts to better regulate toxic chemicals that pollute water like PFAS and Chlorpyrifos.

For a far more extensive breakdown of Trump’s anti-environmental and anti-climate justice record, go here

In Florida it’s the people who have to pay the price for Trump’s choice to ignore science and the experts. Climate change is not a hoax in Florida–it’s more extreme weather, harmful algae blooms and sea level rise.

The bottom line is that since taking office, Trump has rolled back more than 100 environmental protections, including destroying clean air protections during the COVID-19 pandemic — a respiratory health crisis.  That’s why we’re working to let voters know the real story.

 

Paid for by LCV Victory Fund, www.lcvvictoryfund.org, and not authorized by any candidate or candidate’s committee.