{"id":427397,"date":"2026-02-22T15:52:32","date_gmt":"2026-02-22T14:52:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=427397"},"modified":"2026-02-22T15:52:34","modified_gmt":"2026-02-22T14:52:34","slug":"yes-republicans-support-solar-and-the-environment-my-city-is-living-proof","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=427397","title":{"rendered":"Yes, Republicans Support Solar and the Environment. My City Is Living Proof."},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From Watts Up With That?<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Francis Suarez<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last week, a poll from Trump-aligned pollster Fabrizio, Lee & Associates shocked the chattering class by finding 70% of Republican voters support American-made, utility-scale<\/u><\/a> solar<\/u><\/a>\u2014supposedly anathema to today\u2019s conservative energy policy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Color me unsurprised. When I served as Miami\u2019s Republican mayor, elected by Republican voters, solar energy and environmental solutions weren\u2019t just policy priorities\u2014they were popular.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We embraced solar as part of our city plan<\/u><\/a>, and we also invested in other energy and environmental needs: raising seawalls, upgrading stormwater systems, attracting tech companies with zero-carbon nuclear power<\/u><\/a>, and building flood-resistant infrastructure. Why? Because my Republican voters understood you can\u2019t have a strong economy and thriving society without stewarding the natural assets that make your city valuable in the first place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The truth is, energy and environmental policy is not as starkly divided as the culture warriors on either side want to admit. This polling and the city I governed for eight years is living proof.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Not to state the obvious, but people like living in beautiful places. People and businesses come to Miami for the sunshine, parks, clear water, and pristine beaches. But that beauty can come with a cost. Storm damage has become costlier, flooding more common, and residential insurance rates have been skyrocketing. After Hurricane Irma devastated South Florida in 2017, we faced a choice: continue treating environmental protection and energy resilience as optional, or recognize that our economy depends on both. We chose the latter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Citizens voted to tax themselves $400 million to build resilience against storm surges and flooding. While this may seem costly, it\u2019s significantly less than the $50 billion of destruction<\/u><\/a> Irma caused statewide. And no price can be put on the lives we lost during the storm.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We broke ground on our first resiliency project<\/u><\/a> in 2019, a flood mitigation upgrade in the low-lying Fair Isle neighborhood that raised roadways, improved drainage, and constructed a new stormwater pump station. The year before, we launched the PACE program<\/u><\/a>\u2014Property Assessed Clean Energy\u2014enabling homeowners to finance rooftop solar, energy efficiency upgrades, and storm-resiliency improvements like impact windows and reinforced roofs through their property tax bills.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To date, the bond has funded dozens of flood-prevention projects<\/u><\/a> while PACE has empowered thousands of homeowners to take control of their energy independence and hurricane preparedness. Both programs are voluntary\u2014citizens voted for the bond, and homeowners choose PACE\u2014and both demonstrate that conservative, market-driven environmental policy works.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thankfully, Miami has not been directly hit by a hurricane since Irma. But it\u2019s only a matter of time before the next storm strikes, and we\u2019re better off for getting ahead. Our proactive approach means we\u2019re saving money at the household level, protecting natural assets, and genuinely prepared when storms do come. The west coast of Florida wasn\u2019t as fortunate\u2014their recent hurricanes spiked insurance costs and pushed down property values, exactly the outcome our investments were designed to prevent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That contrast illustrates why Miami\u2019s approach to environment and energy can and should be replicated in cities across America. Every corner of our country has natural assets that create value while also presenting risks: towering mountains with avalanches, river deltas that flood, or forests prone to wildfires. Preserving those assets isn\u2019t a wasteful line item\u2014it\u2019s what gives our communities value in the first place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Of course, this dual commitment to environmental protection and energy innovation isn\u2019t always easy. The same ocean that makes Miami beautiful reminds us of our vulnerability. The same prosperity that makes environmental investments possible has also made Miami a magnet, driving up housing costs and straining infrastructure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yet these are good\u2013and solvable\u2013problems to have. Miami is booming in large part because it is beautiful and because we embrace pragmatic environmental reforms that mitigate the risks of natural disasters. And the best way to respond to these growing pains is through tried and true Republican principles: keeping taxes low, reducing government debt, investing in infrastructure, and committing to law and order.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These policies helped Miami transition in a time of unprecedented growth, while turning a $115 million deficit into a $200 million surplus<\/u><\/a>, cutting murders by 40%,<\/u><\/a> and attracting businesses from Citadel to Spotify. The infrastructure improvements that protect us from floods\u2014raised seawalls, upgraded drainage, enhanced green spaces\u2014also make commutes easier and communities stronger. Economic vitality and environmental stewardship weren\u2019t mutually exclusive. They were complementary priorities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Of course, truly mitigating environmental dangers and building a robust energy future will require federal, state, and private sector actions to address root causes, ideally through market signals that mobilize the whole of the American economy to drive innovation and reduce emissions. But cities still play a key role because cities don\u2019t have the option to play politics or get dragged down in culture wars.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019ve long believed America\u2019s mayors are part of the solutions party, because we either fix problems or we fail. Miami\u2019s journey demonstrates that cities can thrive by embracing both economic growth and environmental responsibility. By choosing pragmatism over ideology\u2014treating our environment as a strategic asset and investing in resilient infrastructure\u2014we created a safe, booming, and beautiful city all at the same time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Francis Suarez was the 43rd Mayor of Miami (2017-2025) and the former President of the U.S. Conference of Mayors.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This article was originally published by RealClearEnergy and made available via RealClearWire.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Last week, a poll from Trump-aligned pollster Fabrizio, Lee & Associates shocked the chattering class by finding\u00a070% of Republican voters support American-made, utility-scale\u00a0solar\u2014supposedly anathema to today\u2019s conservative energy policy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":121246920,"featured_media":427400,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","_crdt_document":"","advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[691841577,691841576,691818154,691818206,691841579,691819233,691841578],"class_list":{"0":"post-427397","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","6":"hentry","7":"category-uncategorized","8":"tag-environmental-solutions","9":"tag-miamis-republican-mayor","10":"tag-net-zero","11":"tag-nuclear-power","12":"tag-property-assessed-clean-energy-pace","13":"tag-solar-energy","14":"tag-storm-surges-and-flooding","16":"fallback-thumbnail"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/00Screenshot-2026-02-22-155120.png?fit=1509%2C752&ssl=1","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paxLW1-1Nbv","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":231011,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=231011","url_meta":{"origin":427397,"position":0},"title":"Data 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