I just saw this unbelievable release from Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, via the Forecast the Facts Twitter feed.
It's been well-reported that Florida Governor Rick Scott has told state employees that they are not permitted to use the phrase "climate change" or "global warming." It's also public knowledge that other states, notably Pennsylvania and North Carolina, have gagged their employees in a similar manner.
Not to be outdone, it seems that Florida has now taken its policy to a new level, by suspending a Department of Environmental Protection employee for mentioning climate change in the official notes of a public meeting. And just to make sure that message is clear, the employee is also being forced to obtain a medical release related to his "behavior" before returning to work.
A quote from the PEER press release:
Barton Bibler is a long-time DEP employee who now serves as Land Management Plan Coordinator in its Division of State Lands. He attended a Florida Coastal Managers Forum on February 27, 2015 at which climate change and sea-level rise were discussed among a mix of public attendees. Mr. Bibler’s official notes on this meeting reflected all of that discussion. He was directed to remove any hot button issues, especially explicit references to climate change, and then was given a letter of reprimand for supposedly misrepresenting that the “official meeting agenda included climate change.”
As he was given the reprimand on March 9th, Mr. Bibler was told to not return to work for two days which would be charged against his personal leave time. Two days later he received a “Medical Release Form” requiring that his doctor supply the DEP with an evaluation of unspecified “medical condition and behavior” issues before being allowed to return to work.
It's hard to know what to say about this, as it goes so far beyond the realm of acceptable, reality-based governance as to be absurd. It's one thing to assert that climate change is overblown, or that you can't have an opinion because you're "not a scientist." That's negligent and obtuse enough on its own. But to punish someone whose job it is to protect the state's environment for simply publishing accurate notes of a public meeting is a step beyond. Then to force that person to have their mental health evaluated as a condition of returning to work is an egregious and deeply disturbing abuse of power.
This is a truly Orwellian circumstance, in which the state seems to be implying that a recognition of reality is a sign of mental illness. If you accept the well-established scientific finding that global warming is both real and anthropogenic, you are clearly insane.
PEER has asked the DEP to open an investigation into this matter. One can only hope that this abuse of power, and the legal action that seems likely to follow, gains enough public attention to push the Scott administration toward accepting reality.