Florida Joins Climate Change Campaign

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Many states are getting serious about global warming. California and its governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger, have led the way, and so far nearly two dozen other states in the West and Northeast have followed. Now the first state in the South, Florida, has joined the campaign. Governor Charlie Crist signs executive orders today that set targets to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and adopt California's tough car pollution standards.

NPR's Greg Allen reports.

GREG ALLEN: You've heard of Rockefeller Republicans and Reagan Republicans. Florida's Charlie Crist falls into a new category, one that might be called a Schwarzenegger Republican.

Governor CHARLIE CRIST (Republican, Florida): All due credit to Governor Schwarzenegger; he's been a tremendous leader for our country as it relates to, you know, protecting our environment and doing the right thing.

ALLEN: Crist says Schwarzenegger helped convince him Florida could follow California's example, adopting measures that in the next decade would roll back greenhouse gas emissions to year 2000 levels. And that's just the beginning. Schwarzenegger is joining Crist today at a conference on global climate change being held in Miami.

As part of a series of executive orders he's signing here today, Crist will require utilities to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions and also begin producing 20 percent of their electricity from renewable sources like wind and solar energy. In addition, he's ordered Florida to adopt California's strict emission standard for cars.

As a low-lying state with more than 1,300 miles of coastline, extensive coral reefs and a year-round growing season, Crist says global warming poses special risks for the Sunshine State.

Gov. CRIST: Scientists say that climate change could endanger Florida's agricultural industry, cause violent weather patterns and jeopardize also our water supply. These are things that we must address.

ALLEN: Even before this week's announcement, Crist made it clear he was taking the state's energy policy in a new direction, cheering recently when utilities were forced to cancel to coal-fired power plants. Florida, he says, has probably built its last conventional coal plant.

Gov. CRIST: There are so many other resources that we can utilize - solar, wind, nuclear - that are clean, that will produce power and that will be efficient, that will be effective and will not be that costly. So why wouldn't we do it?

ALLEN: This week's climate conference in Miami is drawing scientists, CEOs, environmentalists and policymakers from around the world. A notable absence is anyone from the federal government or the Bush administration. It's not an accident. While the federal government has stayed on the sidelines, it's the states that have taken the lead on addressing global warming.

A key player has been Terry Taminin(ph), a former official in the Schwarzenegger administration who's advising his former boss, Crist, and other governors on the issue. Florida is the first state in the Southeast to sign on to this growing movement. And Taminin believes it's a political tipping point.

Mr. PERRY TAMININ (Former California Official): Florida taking action, we believe, will spur action by other Southern governors; that will finally fill in the map. And we can then tell that story to the world, that the United States is taking action. It's just not at the federal level. And then get China, India and these other emerging economies to do likewise.

ALLEN: In his first six months in office, Charlie Crist has surprised many by embracing issues usually associated with Democrats in Florida. He agreed to get rid of the state's troubled touch-screen voting machines, and pushed to restore voting rights to felons who've served their time. Next week he's having solar panels installed on the roof of the governor's mansion.

And here's another startling admission. In deciding to take on global warming, Florida's Republican governor says he was influenced not just by Schwarzenegger but also by former Democratic presidential candidate Al Gore and his documentary "An Inconvenient Truth."

Greg Allen, NPR News, Miami.

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