Officials propose making 'South Florida' 51st state
Quote:
Originally posted by CNBC
A group of Southern Florida politicians are tired of being left out to sea when it comes to addressing climate change concerns for the southern part of the state. Their solution? Create a state of their own.
According to a report from the Sun-Sentinel, a proposal by the mayor of South Miami and the South Miami City Commission calls for the legal separation of Florida into two states.
The new state—dubbed "South Florida"—would thus become the 51st state.
The imposing threat of rising sea levels is behind the proposal.
Vice Mayor Walter Harris proposed the resolution and it passed with a 3-2 vote at the city commission meeting on Oct. 7. He says Tallahassee, the state capital, isn't doing enough to deal with global warming.
The proposal would chop off the bottom half of Florida with the northern counties of the new state being Brevard, Orange, Polk, Hillsborough and Pinellas, roughly from the city of Orlando down. The new state would include 24 counties.
The resolution points out that the average elevation of North Florida is about 120 feet above sea level while the average elevation of South Florida is less than 50 feet. It is estimated that there will be a 3- to 6-foot sea level rise in the next 100 years, according to the resolution.
The resolution will now go to governments of the newly proposed "South Florida" counties. No new state can be created without Florida congressional approval.
What a misleading title. There have been so many proposals for 51st states within the past few years and none of them have come remotely close to succeeding.
We do seem a lot less insane than the rest of the state.
I actually remember that episode of Looney Tunes.