Typically, when an environmental and economic disaster strikes a state, its leader takes the time to address the threat, look for solutions, maybe even show up in person.

But as coral reefs throughout the Florida Keys have turned ghost white and perished in recent weeks amid a record-breaking, relentless marine heat wave, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) has remained completely silent at least publicly.

HuffPost was unable to identify a single comment from DeSantis about the crisis, which is forecast to persist for months and threatens to devastate not only the remaining corals in the Keys but also the regions tourism-based economy. A spokesperson for DeSantis did not respond to a request for comment Friday, instead forwarding HuffPosts questions to the Florida Department of Environmental Protection.

Brian Miller, a spokesperson for the environmental agency, told HuffPost in an email that the state has taken many preemptive actions to safeguard Floridas Coral Reef for generations to come under DeSantis leadership. Since 2019, Florida has spent more than $50 million for coral reef recovery and restoration, he noted.

The Governors forward-thinking funding priorities including coral reef restoration and recovery initiative grants provide crucial financial resources to tackle current and future environmental issues, including those currently affecting Floridas Coral Reef, Miller wrote.

Of course, funneling money to reef restoration does nothing to confront the main threat to corals. Planet-warming greenhouse gas emissions are driving up ocean temperatures and fueling mass coral die-offs.

No matter what we do regarding restoration, local sources of pollution, marine protected areas if we dont get our hands around global climate emissions, anything we do is a rear guard action that will only put things off for the future, said Bill Precht, a veteran coral scientist based in Miami. And thats not good enough.