FLORIDA

An environmental advocacy group wants a state inquiry into whether Florida Gov. Rick Scott's administration forbade environmental agency employees from using the terms

climate change

and

global warming.

Members of the group Forecast the Facts filed a complaint Tuesday with the Department of Environmental Protection's inspector-general.

Scott denied the allegation Tuesday in his response to a report by the Florida Center for Investigative Reporting. The report quoted former employees and contractors saying they were told not to use the terms. Former DEP attorney Chris Byrd, who says that he was forced out in 2013, said that while there was no written ban, supervisors made it clear verbally to avoid those words.

Scott denied the report, saying, "There's lots of conversation about this issue" at the DEP. - AP