By U.S. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse
I represent Rhode Island in the Senate, so why am I writing this in Florida? Because you are our preview of coming attractions. What’s happening in Florida will come soon enough to other coastal states, like Rhode Island.
As chair of the Senate Budget Committee, I’ve called expert witnesses who testified about the property insurance death spiral: First, climate conditions become so dramatic and unpredictable that insurance markets are clobbered. Then, when insurance becomes unavailable or unaffordable, mortgage and property markets get hit. Finally, you get what the former chief economist for mortgage giant Freddie Mac predicted: a coastal property values crash. He warned that it will be “systemic” — like the 2008 mortgage meltdown that ravaged the whole economy.
This warning probably seems familiar. On a recent visit to the Sunshine State, I heard from many of you that your home insurance rates have tripled or quadrupled. Many of you have had insurance companies deny you coverage, go bankrupt or pull out of Florida entirely. Many of you have been moved into, and “depopulated” out of, Citizens, Florida’s state-backed insurer of last resort. Many of you wonder if whatever insurer you’re left with will actually pay claims. Florida’s insurance crisis has begun to cascade into homeowners unable to find buyers, or having to reduce selling prices to unload a risk-burdened property.
Florida may be “first and worst” into this mess, but sea level rise, warming oceans and worsening storms — which delivered the one-two punch of Milton and Helene — are coming for all coastal states. And right beside the coastal property insurance crisis, there’s emerged a parallel wildfire property insurance crisis — the evil upland twin of what coastal states face, already affecting insurance markets out West.
This isn’t going to get better unless we change course. Fossil fuel emissions have put us on an unavoidable near-term trajectory of greater risk: more sea level rise, more heat into our oceans, more storm risk and damage. That means the insurance-mortgage-property value crash problem will get worse unless we change the trajectory and stop the nonsense about denying climate change and obstructing solutions. Climate solutions are there, and they are clear and obvious. It’s a matter of will and politics — against a lot of fossil fuel industry money.
After nearly 30 years of failed leadership, it is clear that Florida Republicans would rather ban mention of the words “climate change” than take action to save Floridians from the rising costs of climate-flation. It’s no secret that warmer waters have led to stronger and more destructive storms, but former Gov. Rick Scott barred state officials from talking about climate change, and Gov. Ron DeSantis recently took it even further by banning “climate change” from many state statutes. Now, as climate change creates an insurance crisis that’s cascading into a mortgage and property values crisis, it’s a straight line from Republicans’ climate denial to your sky-high insurance premiums.
Democrats have passed the largest investment ever in climate safety, which is already helping to lower costs for Florida families. The Inflation Reduction Act has already brought 300,000 Floridians more than $845 million in clean energy tax credits, and homeowners will soon be able to claim up to $14,000 for cost-saving energy rebates. The Inflation Reduction Act also allotted Florida $3 million to the state for developing a plan to reduce the harmful greenhouse gas emissions that are causing climate change, but DeSantis opted out.
For a long time, climate change was about future threats — polar bears, ice shelves collapsing, 2050 emissions goals. Not anymore. That notice of cancellation coming through your mail slot is climate change. That tripled or quadrupled insurance bill coming through your mail slot, that’s climate change. I won’t lie to you; it’s going to stay ugly for a while. But if you vote in this election for candidates who take climate change seriously, it can begin to get better. Candidates who lie to you about climate change and then stick you with the bill need to be shown the door. Your future depends on it. A lot of us who aren’t “first and worst,” but who are in line behind you, will be grateful.
Sheldon Whitehouse represents Rhode Island in the U.S. Senate, where he chairs the Senate Budget Committee and is a senior member of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee. He founded the Senate Oceans Caucus to forge bipartisan policies to protect our oceans and coasts and the people and economies that rely on them.
This opinion piece was originally published by the Sun Sentinel, which is a media partner of The Invading Sea. Banner image: U.S. Airmen clear roads in Keaton Beach after the landfall of Hurricane Helene (Staff Sgt. Jacob Hancock/U.S. Air National Guard, via Defense Visual Information Distribution Service).
If you are interested in submitting an opinion piece to The Invading Sea, email Editor Nathan Crabbe at ncrabbe@fau.edu. Sign up for The Invading Sea newsletter by visiting here.
