Energy

Why Florida’s wind turbine ban is ‘symbolic’

Gov. Ron DeSantis said the law will keep windmills off the state’s beaches.
Three wind turbines from Deepwater Wind stand in the water off Block Island, R.I, the nation’s first offshore wind farm, Aug. 15, 2016. (AP Photo/Michael Dwyer, File)

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) said energy legislation he signed this month “will keep windmills off our beaches,” but it’s unlikely anyone would want them there in the first place.

Matthew Eisenson, a senior fellow at Columbia University’s Sabin Center for Climate Change Law, called the state’s ban on building or expanding wind-energy facilities including turbines within one mile of the state’s coastline “extensive.” But, he said, “it is mostly symbolic.”

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