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Joining me now is christopher byrd, former senral counsel for the florida department of environmental protection. can you tell me when and how the policy in question of not saying climate change or global warming was communicated to you? >> yes, shortly after rick scott was elected in 2010 and was inaugurated at the beginning of the next year, 2011, the general counsel's office called a staff meeting with all the lawyers to warn us that things were going to change under the new administration and within those changes were certain policies that would prohibit us from using these term, climate c...

Protection were banned from using the word climate change. the report from the florida senator for investigative reporting alleges that dep officials had been told not to use the words climate change and global warming in official reports and communications. and that the unwritten policy was communicated in 2011 after rick scott an established climate change denier came into office. christopher byrd who worked as an attorney for general counsel from 2008 to 2013 said that he was warned not to use climate change and reeled terms during a 2011 staff meeting. "i did infer from this meeting that t...

The department of environmental protection. why do you say you are essentially diggs gruntled this. is sour grapes? >> oh i was fired two years ago. i have a very rewarding practice in public interest environmental law here in florida. i was asked to recount my experiences at dep under rick scott and i'm happy to share the truth with everybody and i'm glad to see others having the courage to step up and speak out. >> what does it mean to you the state of florida is currently governed by a man who apparently -- he denies it but accord fog what you're saying doesn't allow these terms to be used ...

At our department of environmental protection, look, there's lots of conversations about that issue. from my standpoint like every issue my goal is instead of talking about it let's do something about it so in the last four years we put money in it with regard to flood mitigation and settled a decades old lawsuit in the everglades to deal with the water quality and historic funding for springs so my goal is continue to make progress. >> notice he didn't actually use the words climate change there either. we asked the governor's office to comment they said it's not true, didn't specify what spe...

Global warming in official reports and communications and that the unwritten policy was communicated in 2011 after rick scott, an established climate change denier, came into office. christopher byrd, who worked as an attorney with the dep's office of general counsel from 2008 to 2013 said that he was warned not to use climate change and related terms during a 2011 staff meeting. "i did infer from this meeting that this was a new policy, that these words were to be prohibited for use from official dep policymaking with our clients." several other staffers reported similar experiences and earli...