Kentucky and Tennessee, which have been particularly vulnerable to flash flooding and violent storms, in the cross hairs today.
Louisville Courier Journal August 2, 2022:
Governor Andy Beshear:
“I wish I could tell you why we keep getting hit here in Kentucky. I wish I could tell you why areas where people may not have much continue to get hit and lose everything. I can’t give you the why, but I know what we do in response to it. And the answer is everything we can. These are our people. Let’s make sure we help them out.”
After three years in office, Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear has grown accustomed to holding media briefings on weather disasters.
The response on Twitter was swift.
Some of his supporters embraced Beshear, a Democratic governor, for what has become one of his trademarks, and strengths, as he prepares for a tough 2023 re-election battle in an otherwise Republican-dominated state public appearances where he displays a degree of empathy worthy of former president Bill Clinton.
But others on Twitter were quick to attack him, saying that the answer to the “why” was obviously climate change, an issue the governor rarely discusses. His statewide energy plan, for example, does not include any mention of the words “climate change,” though he talks passionately about two planned new manufacturing plants for electric vehicle batteries, to be built along the Interstate-65 corridor south of Louisville.
Beshear is among the most popular Democratic governors in the country, with some polls giving him a 60 percent approval rating.
But he is also hemmed in politically by the supermajority of Republicans controlling the Kentucky General Assembly. They are unsympathetic to the climate crisis in a state where Republicans and Democrats alike have long backed coal mining and coal burning as part of the state’s identity, even though Kentucky has been shedding coal mining jobs for decades.
“Given his close margin of victory in the last election and the importance of the coal industry to the state, I just don’t think he can afford to mention climate change,” said Melissa Merry, a University of Louisville political science professor whose research area includes environmental politics. “It will make him an easy target for his political opponents.”
Although major weather events have devastated parts of Kentucky before, the frequency of these events is increasing, with many pointing to climate change.
According to Louisville Public Media, many Kentucky residents and rural Appalachian communities in West Virginia and Ohio are at a higher risk for flooding due to climate change. Communities are seeing an increase in heavy rain events, which causes more flash flooding.
As the Earth continues to heat up, more water evaporates into the atmosphere. Moisture then builds and is released as precipitation. Increased water retention can lead to heavy rainfall, which can lead to floods, per the National Resources Defense Council.