FPL representatives faced off at South Miami City Hall against a standing-room only crowd expressing concerns over health risks from electric and magnetic fields (EMF) from the high-voltage transmission lines and calling on FPL to bury the lines underground.
According to the Herald:
With three proposed lines -- one cutting through the western edge of the city on the old Florida East Coast Railroad property that runs along South Miami Elementary and High schools, one running along State Road 874, and another along U.S. 1 -- each brought opposition from residents.South Miami's Vice-Mayor Brian Beasley was said by the paper to be upset that FPL had already narrowed the transmission routes to those three options:
"It bothers me that they got rid of the other routes," he said, talking about previously proposed routes that would have stayed out of South Miami, yet have already been decided upon as not viable. "I didn't want to wait this long because now we only have these options.''Resident Michael Tangeman said the transmission lines are directly linked to the Turkey Point nuclear plant and said the "entire process and concept needs to be reviewed. In March 2009, there will be a base rate increase from FPL for nuclear reactors that we never asked for, don't need and don't want.''
FPL spokesman Ramon Ferrer told the Herald that the lines were necessary to bring the power from Turkey Point to Miami. As for underground, Ferrer was quoted as saying that "Certainly, when it comes to transmission lines, the undergrounding is more expensive, but we have not discarded that."
Read the full Miami Herald story online, here.
See related Stop FPL post: South Miami Mayor links to FPL questioned
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4 comments:
Nice "head fake" by FPL ... an icicle's chance in hell that they're going to bury those lines! Wait till you see what they announce in a few weeks' time. Folks in South Miami may think they've won the battle, but there's more to come, guarantee it!
Don't worry, South Miami can take care of itself ... the fireworks have just begun and FPL is going to bury those lines or they'll not be coming through our town!
No way are they going via the railroad route and then make a 90-degree turn to cut back across Bird Road. Coral Gables would never allow that and they've got way more clout than South Miami.
Look for FPL to try coming straight up US 1 with those ugly high-voltage lines, running right along the Metrorail and cutting South Miami in two! Which would virtually criss-cross and ring South Miami's African-American community with high-voltage lines. Amazing the way FPL creates so much of the "blight" we see in our neighborhoods -- just take a look at SW 62nd Avenue and SW 64th Street -- and then the developers eagerly line up to "re-develop" the "blighted areas" with the blessing of our civic leaders!
What a racket! On and on it goes ...
Who are the true lobbyist for FPL? How did they push this under the rug? We need to make our elected officials accountable. We need to write to our city, county, state, and national elected officials and voice our concerns.
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