Florida's Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, is auditing the clean energy initiatives of local governments as part of its "promise to ensure transparency and accountability in government."
A Tampa Bay Times investigation initially reported on the state's inquiry into policies regarding carbon emissions, solar energy, and electric vehicles at Hillsborough and Pinellas counties and the city of St. Petersburg.
Gov. Ron DeSantis' office did not respond to a request for comment, but in a summer press release, he described the state's boots-on-the-ground visits to local government offices this way:
"Florida is the model for fiscal responsibility at the state level, and we will utilize our authority to ensure local governments to follow suit," DeSantis said. "Florida's DOGE efforts are owed to the taxpayer and yet another way their state is pursuing fiscal responsibility."
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The Times reports a state assessment of local government spending on climate policies and other initiatives could be released in mid-October.
The governor has called this an effort to eliminate waste and save taxpayers money, but Brooke Ward, senior Florida organizer with the national nonprofit Food and Water Watch, said it will do the exact opposite.
"Florida is incredibly vulnerable to extreme weather events, and the only way for us to ensure the health and safety of Floridians is to invest in climate resiliency that actually makes life safer and more affordable for people," she said.
The burning of heat-trapping fossil fuels for things like producing energy, instead of using cleaner options like solar, has been scientifically proven to impact upward trends of stronger, wetter hurricanes and extreme heat.
In fact, Tampa hit a temperature of 100 degrees for the first time ever recorded this summer.
After Hurricane Helene's storm surge and Hurricane Milton's record rainfall last year, the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation reported more than $5 billion in estimated insured losses.
Then there's the issue of climbing electric bills for residents. Clean energy advocates have long said the volatile cost of fossil fuels is what partially drives rate increases, while companies collect financial damages from customers after climate-fueled storms.
In Florida, local governments have taken the charge to address climate-polluting emissions and transition to clean energy by installing solar panels on its buildings and purchasing fleets of electric or hybrid vehicles.
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Hillsborough County spent $7.5 million on solar energy infrastructure since 2018, which saved $2.3 million. That offset about 9,400 metric tons of climate-warming emissions.
And St. Petersburg saved nearly $900,000 through incorporating solar energy since 2019.
"When we are looking at DOGE coming in and trying to stifle these programs that are our only hope, it truly is government overreach, and it's taking away the only safety net that our communities have," said Brooke Ward, who is also part of the Hillsborough Affordable Energy Coalition.
"These local governments, even those that have not done a lot, have still done more than we've seen from the DeSantis administration on whole."
The state does offer local governments resiliency grants for building up and hardening around sea level rise and flooding, but it has also removed the term "climate change" from state law and has a previous history of denying federal funding for things like an emissions assessment.
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