Currently, the Florida National Guard has more than 8,000 Soldiers and Airmen conducting search and rescue operations, recovery operations, supply distribution points, and shelter management operations throughout the state in support of local and state agencies.
More than 11,000 Guardsmen from other states are assisting in support of recovery operations throughout the state.
We’re extremely proud of the Guardsmen and active forces from across the country who are working now to save lives, prevent injuries and protect property.
We are well-equipped, with assets including high water vehicles, helicopters, boats, generators and more.
“The next days and weeks will no doubt be trying and exhausting as we begin to rebuild. But no matter what this storm has brought, know that you are not alone,” said Maj. Gen. Michael Calhoun, the Adjutant General of Florida.
Response to Hurricane Irma has been a massive team effort, and we are proud to be working closely with our civilian partner agencies, National Guard units from other states and active-duty counterparts.
Florida National Guard Soldiers and Airmen are helping at more than 250 shelters statewide, and will continue to assist however needed and requested by the counties.
We have established Points of Distribution (PODs) throughout the state, and are operating at the State Logistics Readiness Center (SLRC) in Orlando and Logistics Staging Areas (LSAs) to ensure that we are able to get supplies quickly to those who need them.
We are aware of the critical situation in the Florida Keys, and continue to coordinate multi-service operations. Our Soldiers and Airmen are providing critical capabilities to include road and runway clearance to enable the delivery of life-saving supplies.
Photos and video of FLNG support during Hurricane Irma can be found here and here.
Response
Environment Florida's Response to Climate Rollbacks
“Calling climate change a ‘hoax’ won’t stop temperatures or sea level from rising. We can tackle the climate crisis by investing in science and clean, renewable energy, but only if we move boldly and quickly. Defunding science, undercutting clean energy, and doubling down on fossil fuels is sheer reckless folly.” -Turner Lott, Campaign Organizer, Environment Florida
President Trump signed an executive order today rolling back climate progress. The executive order instructs the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to rewrite the Clean Power Plan, the single largest step the U.S. has taken to limit climate change. The order also lifts the moratorium on federal coal leasing and limits on methane from fracking operations. The administration also initiated a process to reconsider the Social Cost of Carbon and the National Environmental Policy Act guidance on climate pollution. Turner Lott, Campaign Organizer, Environment Florida issued the following statement:
“Calling climate change a ‘hoax’ won’t stop temperatures or sea level from rising. We can tackle the climate crisis by investing in science and clean, renewable energy, but only if we move boldly and quickly. Defunding science, undercutting clean energy, and doubling down on fossil fuels is sheer reckless folly.
2016 was the hottest year on record, beating 2015 which was the hottest year before that. The climate and clean air safeguards that President Trump is proposing to block would increase pollution and threaten our health and the planet. If fully implemented, the Clean Power Plan alone would have reduced our power plant emissions 32% by 2030 with huge health and environmental benefits for Floridians.
Instead of accelerating this progress, the administration is proposing to endanger our health and threaten our children’s future. Blocking the Clean Power plan will lead to 3,600 additional premature deaths, 90,000 more asthma attacks in children, and 300,000 more missed work and school days by 2030. Power plants make up 49 percent of carbon emissions in Florida, producing as much carbon dioxide yearly as almost 25 million cars. The Clean Power plan helps Florida reduce its emissions by providing incentives to shift from pollution-causing fossil fuels to clean, renewable energy. However, The Trump Administration’s proposed rollback doubles down on fossil fuels that damage our health and the environment.
Millions of Americans have called for strong climate action, submitting more than 8 million comments asking the EPA to take action to cut carbon pollution from power plants. More than 600,000 of these comments came from Environment America’s members and supporters.
More than 1100 health professionals sent a letter urging the President to support the Clean Power Plan, to limit carbon pollution, phase out drilling and mining on public lands, increase electric vehicles and set higher fuel economy standards for cars.
We need to stop President Trump’s rollbacks of our environmental protections that will make us more dependent on dirty fossil fuels. Today’s actions by the administration threaten our health, our environment, and our treasured places.
Despite the President’s dangerous and backwards energy agenda, the fact is the clean energy revolution can’t be stopped. Clean energy solutions like solar, wind and efficiency will reduce carbon pollution and clean up our air, protect our health including reducing asthma attacks, and promote energy independence.
And, as our most successful climate programs face attack on the federal level, it is incumbent on states to double down on their climate commitments. We are calling on Governor Scott to keep leading the charge and push the progress we need to tackle the climate crisis and get 100% renewable energy.”
Senate Democratic Leader Oscar Braynon Response to State of the State
As Delivered March 7, 2017
Good afternoon. I’m Oscar Braynon, and I’m the leader of the Senate Democratic Caucus.
On behalf of the Senate Democratic members, I’d like to talk to you for a few minutes about Governor Scott’s State of the State address today.
Not just about what he said, but about what he didn’t, about the promises he’s broken, and why that matters.
For the past seven years, Governor Scott has talked a lot about the economy. “It’s all about jobs,” he says.
Well, he’s right. We couldn’t agree more. Everyone needs work; everyone needs a job.
The problem is the kind of jobs he’s been bringing home to Florida.
Because the majority of his jobs are great for teenagers, or someone just starting out, but not for someone with skills, with training, with a strong work history, or a family to support.
They’re not the kind of jobs that let you save for that new car, that down payment on a new house, or your kid’s future education.
They’re not the kind of jobs that invest in the people.
And it’s that commitment to investing in the people that’s been missing from too many areas in the seven years since Governor Scott first took office.
In states like Michigan, Arizona, and even Vice President Mike Pence’s home state of Indiana, the governors didn’t stand in the way of the people getting affordable health care.
They realized that bankrupting residents because of a medical emergency isn’t the way to prosperity.
They realized that the national health care law not only brought more medical coverage for people, but more good paying jobs in the health care field.
They knew that you can’t work if you’re sick, you can’t give 100 percent if your body is operating at half power, and you can’t take care of others if you can’t take care of yourself.
Time and time again, Governor Scott had the chance to do the right thing, to invest in the people by expanding healthcare coverage in Florida.
But he didn’t. He gave the public’s money away in big tax breaks to big companies instead.
It was a fool’s errand.
From conservative think tanks to top economists, there’s widespread agreement that the way to lure the top companies with the top paying jobs isn’t just dangling tax dollars in front of them.
Florida is and has been one of the lowest tax states for business in the country.
Business executives want what the rest of us do, and it all comes down to quality of life: good schools and top-notch universities, quality, affordable healthcare, efficient transportation, and clean water and air.
They want more than just a state that sells itself as “cheap.”
So as Governor Scott continues his sales pitch for more of your dollars for more of his corporate tax cuts, ask him about that big shortfall the state is facing because of these very same policies, and his broken promises to turn Florida around.
Ask him about the green sludge fouling Florida’s waters because money was never committed for prevention.
Ask him why we’re stuck near the bottom in high school graduation rates and educating our pre-school kids.
Ask him why 9,000 more people with developmental disabilities age 21 or older are waitlisted for services, or why we’re at the bottom of the national pack in our commitment to services for the mentally ill, or access to basic health care.
And ask him why investments in the people just aren’t as important as the people’s money for his tax incentives.
If you had the chance, what would you choose?
More jobs paying minimum wage, or jobs you could brag about, jobs you were proud of, jobs that were taking you somewhere?
If you had the chance, would you check the box for fewer doctors, less medical services, and higher costs?
Or would you check the box for a family doctor, preventative services, and treatment you can afford?
As Democrats, we believe in the right choices, the ones that deliver the good jobs we need, and the affordable healthcare we’re missing.
We believe in a future that aims higher, that wraps the hopes and dreams of every man and every woman struggling to hold on, into one unified march for better opportunities now – not some faraway date in the future.
And we believe that the way that you do this is by investing in the people.
Start with education, the great equalizer, and start young. Commit the money our public schools desperately need to shore up crumbling buildings, pay better salaries to our teachers entrusted with educating our children, and provide the tools students need to succeed and stand second to none.
Embrace health care coverage for all Floridians, and the financial sense it makes not just in eliminating expensive back-end treatments, but a boon in new high paying jobs.
And rethink opportunity and second chances by eliminating criminal records for minor drug and non-violent offenses so that job offers don’t vanish with the application form.
All of this was missing from Governor Scott’s State of the State speech today. It’s been missing for the past seven years.
For all his campaigning as an “outsider” his politics have been focused on the well-being of the insiders, his promised tax cuts mostly tailored for the well-off while the tax bills went to everyone else.
In his first campaign for president, former President Obama said: “Our government should work for us, not against us. It should help us, not hurt us. It should ensure opportunity not just for those with the most money and influence, but for every American who’s willing to work. That’s the promise of America.”
That’s the promise of Florida, too. And that’s the promise Democrats intend to keep.
Thank you.
