Florida today is releasing its plan of action to address climate change, and the news is good and big.

Fifty separate policy recommendations pave the way for Florida to realize $28 billion in net economic savings between now and 2025, and to significantly reduce emissions of greenhouse gases. The report's executive summary, posted today here, calculates that emissions would be reduced 64% from business-as-usual projections by 2025 if all fifty policy recommendations are implemented. That translates into a 51% reduction of emissions below 2005 levels, and a 33% reduction below 1990 levels. The reductions blow past the targets Governor Crist asked the Action Team to hit.

Florida's fuel consumption would also decline dramatically and lessen its dependence on both dirty and foreign sources of fossil energy -- a projected total fuel savings of 53.5 billion gallons of petroleum, 200.2 million short tons of coal, and 6.394 billion cubic feet of natural gas during the period of 2009 through 2025.

What is particularly noteworthy is that this plan emerges from the Republican stronghold of Governor Charlie Crist's administration, a man who was on the short list for Vice-Presidential nominee. Secretary of Florida's Department of Environmental Protection Michael Sole headed up Crist's Action Team on Energy and Climate Change which produced the plan. He was deputy secretary of the department under former governor Jeb Bush.

Kathleen Shanahan, who was Jeb Bush's chief of staff, also served on the Action Team. She also served as Chief of Staff for Vice President-elect Dick Cheney during the 2000 presidential campaign and transition. Also on the action team was Mark Kaplan, who also served in the capacity of Chief of Staff for Jeb Bush when he was governor. Rick Baker, Republican Mayor of St. Petersburg, Florida also helped produce the plan. All 50 recommendations were adopted unanimously by the 27 members of the action team......

rest of the story here: http://solveclimate.com/blog/20081015/florida-releases-state-climate-plan-huge-economic-gains-redefines-national-discussion