November 15, 2024
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Climate and conservation ballot measures have passed even in places Trump won
The four Florida counties that voted for Trump also voted to preserve open space, reduce flood damage and protect habitat
Cypress Lake Cove in Lake County, Central Florida.
Stephen Vincent/Alamy Stock Photo
KLIMAWIRE | President-elect Donald Trump won nearly 70% of the vote in Florida’s Clay County last week.
Another big winner in the Republican county near Jacksonville was a ballot measure that would raise taxes by $45 million to fund projects that will improve water quality, protect wildlife and reduce flood damage.
Nearly two dozen conservation and climate-related initiatives passed on Election Day in states from Florida and Georgia to California and Colorado. The measures aim to expand parks, preserve natural areas and prepare communities for the effects of climate change.
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“This is not a partisan issue,” said Pegeen Hanrahan, associate director of conservation funding at the Trust for Public Land, which advocates for conservation and climate-focused ballot measures. “We see wins in red states and blue states.”
Many of the initiatives passed in Democratic areas, such as Denver, which passed a measure to improve air conditioning in public schools. The city saw record-breaking temperatures this fall. Several of the measures drew support from voters in states and counties that backed Trump, who has called climate change a “hoax” and promised to scrap pollution regulations and President Joe Biden’s climate policies and programs.
The success reflects a growing acceptance among citizens and officials that global warming poses greater risks to people, property, budgets and tax bases, and will only get worse without intervention.
“Everybody, regardless of their political leanings, understands that and is willing to make these kinds of investments,” said Justin Marlowe, who directs the Center for Municipal Finance at the University of Chicago. “It is a strategy for economic development.”
Hanrahan said his organization tries to address the “impacts of climate change” through ballot measures. “In some places we don’t discuss the direct cause of these impacts,” Hanrahan said.
The Clay County measure appeared on the ballot as a Soil Conservation Referendum to protect Water Quality, Wildlife Habitat, Forests and Farms.
Florida counties supported by Trump passed four measures.
In Lake County, near Orlando, voters approved a measure to preserve natural areas, improve water quality and protect wildlife habitat. The county will pay for the work by issuing $50 million in bonds that will cost the average homeowner $21 a year over 20 years through increased property taxes, according to a Trust for Public Land study.
The Clay County measure has similar goals and allows the county to sell bonds that could cost the average property owner up to $33 a year, according to the trust. A referendum in Osceola County, south of Orlando, authorizes $70 million to renew the land conservation program.
Voters in Martin County, north of Palm Beach, approved a measure with similar goals. But instead of selling bonds, the county will raise its sales tax by half a cent to raise $183 million over the next decade.
None of Florida’s measures mention climate change. And that on purpose.
“We don’t talk a lot about climate change,” said David Weinstein, the Land Trust’s director of western conservation finance. “We are talking about the worst consequences of climate change, and that is what resonates with voters.”
However, the ballot measures aim to fund projects that reduce greenhouse gas emissions, prepare communities for climate impacts, or both.
“The main benefit of soil protection for the climate is obviously that natural soils absorb carbon, absorb floodwaters (and) create healthier habitat for wildlife movement,” said the Land Trust’s Hanrahan.
Other approved ballot measures aim to reduce fire danger in Colorado, protect forests in Illinois and fund parks, community centers and more in New Mexico.
California voters approved four related ballot measures, including one that mentions “climate” several times. Proposition 4 won 58 percent of the vote and authorizes the state to issue $10 billion in bonds to prevent wildfires, provide safe drinking water and protect California from the “significant threats of climate change.”
As climate impacts increase, the University of Chicago’s Marlowe hopes that ballot measures that address climate change will become more common and popular with voters.
“There are estimates that we’re going to have to borrow twice as much as we borrow every year today” to keep up with climate impacts, Marlow said. “If you’re the mayor, or the city council or the city manager or the chief financial officer, you can’t wait for action in Washington.”
Reprinted E&E News Courtesy of POLITICO, LLC. Copyright 2024. E&E News provides essential news for energy and environmental professionals.
