Charlie Crist on Environment Republican

1992: Elected to State Senate on pro-environment message

Asked BP to pay $65M for tourism promotion, after oil spill

Some of that gloppy black oil washed onto Pensacola Beach--not as much as some experts had worried about but enough to wreck the Panhandle's heavy summer tourist season.

Three separate times, I declared a state of emergency for large sections of Florida's Gulf Coast. Families were canceling their reservations and going to East Coast beaches or the mountains instead. It was a real punch in the gut to Florida's tourism economy. I asked the BP chairman to help pay for an advertising campaign telling potential visitors that the Gulf Coast was inviting and safe. The oil giant coughed up $25 million in tourism-promotion grants, plus an additional $15 million each for AL, MS, and LA. I wasn't shy about asking, and BP seemed willing to pay. The scope of the long-term environmental damage remained a matter of intense debate.

Let state-run insurance carrier compete in private market

Appropriate $100 million to continue to restore Everglades

Keep restrictive rules for predator control in Alaska.

Library of Congress Summary: This joint resolution nullifies the rule finalized by the Department of the Interior on Aug. 5, 2016, relating to non-subsistence takings of wildlife and public participation and closure procedures on National Wildlife Refuges in Alaska.

Case for voting YES by House Republican Policy Committee: The Fish and Wildlife Service rule--which lays claim to more than 20% of Alaska--violates ANILCA (Alaska National Interest Land Conservation Act) and the Alaska Statehood Compact. Not only does [the existing 2016 rule] undermine Alaska's ability to manage fish and wildlife upon refuge lands, it fundamentally destroys a cooperative relationship between Alaska and the federal government.

Case for voting NO by the Sierra Club (April 6, 2017):

• President Trump signed H.J. Res. 69, overturning the rule that banned "predator control" on federal wildlife refuges in Alaska unless "based on sound science in response to a conservation concern."
• Any rule mentioning "sound science" is in trouble under a Trump administration.
• So what kinds of practices will the Trump administration now allow on our federal wildlife refuges? Activities that include shooting or trapping wolves while in their dens with pups, or hunting for grizzly bears from airplanes.
• It's all about ensuring a maximum yield of prey species like elk, moose, and caribou for the real apex predator: humans. So if having more elk requires killing wolf pups in their dens, then so be it.
• The Obama administration's rule (which Trump revoked) never tried to stop all hunting. Subsistence hunting was still allowed. What's changed is that the predators on federal wildlife refuges are now under the control of the state of Alaska. And that makes them prey.