Desantis vows to fight for Florida’s waterways
Tallahassee, Florida- Florida has a new governor. Ron DeSantis took the oath of office yesterday morning on the steps of the capital. During his speech, he spoke about the issues facing Florida’s waterways, and the need to fix the problems.
”Our economic potential will be jeopardized if we do not solve the problems afflicting our environment and water resources.
People want to come to Florida because of its natural beauty. Tourism is not only a pillar of our state’s economy, it helps spread the tax burden to non-Floridians, limiting taxes on our citizens. But this could be in jeopardy if we do not solve our pressing environmental problems. As the great philosopher Yogi Berra remarked: if people don’t want to come nobody is going to stop them.
For Florida, the quality of our water and environmental surroundings are foundational to our prosperity as a state – it doesn’t just drive tourism; it affects property values, anchors many local economies and is central to our quality of life. The water is part and parcel of Florida’s DNA. Protecting it is the smart thing to do; it’s also the right thing to do.
I will lead the efforts to save our waterways. We will fight toxic blue-green algae, we will fight discharges from Lake Okeechobee, we will fight red tide, we will fight for our fishermen, we will fight for our beaches, we will fight to restore our Everglades and we will never ever quit, we won’t be cowed and we won’t let the foot draggers stand in our way.
We resolve to leave Florida to God better than we found it…
Full text and video DeSantis’ inauguration speech: https://www.abcactionnews.com/news/state/ron-desantis-inaugural-speech-read-the-full-transcript
The new Governor also talked about reforming the state’s healthcare system, and appointing conservative judges. DeSantis wasn’t the only new face in Tallahassee. There are also three members of the cabinet who won statewide election. Florida’s new Attorney General is Ashley Moody, who replaces Pam Bondi. Nikki Fried took the oath as the new Agriculture Commissioner. She is the only Democrat on the cabinet. And Jimmy Patronis was sworn in as the state’s Chief Financial Officer. Patronis was appointed to the position in 2017, and is the only member of the cabinet with previous experience. And in Washington, former Governor Rick Scott was sworn in as Florida’s freshman senator.
