FPL requests OK on $1.5 billion 300-mile gas pipeline from Palm Beach to Gainesville

The Sun-Sentinel's Julie Patel reported today that on Tuesday Florida Power & Light proposed to the Florida Public Service commission the construction of "a $1.5 billion underground pipeline that stretches 300 miles from Palm Beach County to Bradford County near Gainesville as early as 2014."

The exact route will be determined after a "comprehensive public outreach process to obtain feedback” about it, FPL said. The pipeline proposal comes during the annual legislative session, where lawmakers are considering requiring utilities to have 20 percent of their energy come from renewable resources such as the sun and wind by 2020.

Read the full post online at the newspaper's House Keys blog, here.

ZNet article on Palm Beach activists jailed for protecting environment against FPL power plant

Very well-researched and thoughtful piece yesterday by Howard Lisnoff at ZNet, titled Jailed Activists Seek to Free Enslaved Environment, about the West County Energy Center (WCEC) in Palm Beach and the arrest and trial of the environmental activists who've tried to stop it.

As Lisnoff points out:

The [WCEC] power plant being built by Florida Power & Light will release 12.3 tons of carbon dioxide a year into an atmosphere already drenched and laden with global greenhouse gasses, and inject an astounding 13.5 million gallons of contaminated cooling water a day "into underground aquifers and allow it to seep into water bodies," according to Dr. Sydney Bacchus, a hydroecologist, who testified in defense of the protesters at their trial.

Lisnoff reviews the trial proceedings, interviews scientists and jailed activists Panagioti Tsolkas and Lynne Purvis in this well-researched piece, concluding among other things that:

In February 2008, scores of protesters momentarily stopped the construction of what soon will be one of the largest fossil-fuel burning plants in the U.S. They faced the power of an industry entrenched in the political establishment of Florida that can purchase enough lobbying muscle to do just about anything it wants done. These protesters faced jail time and a huge fine levied against them for acting out of moral courage in pursuit of the greater good. They faced a hostile judge and prosecutor who belittled the environmental alarm that is so apparent in South Florida. A huge amount of good science was thrown out of the courtroom in return for what was convenient and expedient for the purpose of supporting a major industry player in Florida Power & Light.

The full article at ZNet by Howard Lisnoff is available online, here.

For all those who care about our natural environment and what a giant energy utility can do to harm it if left unchecked, this piece is more than well-worth the read ...

Florida growth least in 60 years ... so why all the electricity, why two new nukes, why now?

Alan Farago raises a very cogent point in his contribution last week to Counter Punch, titled "The Recession, the Developers and Baseball ..."

In the halls of government in cities like Miami, where the jackhammers and cranes and cement trucks have all gone quiet, there is a palpable sense of nostalgia, broken only by hope for a new $500 million stadium or, as Florida Power and Light would have it, two new nuclear reactors costing $18 billion at least ...

Whoa! Stop right there ...

And follow with today's report from the University of Florida's Bureau of Economic and Business Research showing that annual population growth in our State has now slowed to a trickle of what it was from 2000-2006:

With South Florida counties particularly hard hit, the state is expected to add an average of only 37,000 residents each year between 2008 and 2010, a drop of more than 90 percent from the annual average increase during the housing boom years of 2002 to 2006, said Stan Smith, director of UF’s Bureau of Economic and Business Research who led the research. The new report shows county population projections from 2008 to 2035.

Broward and Palm Beach Counties are even expected to lose population during the next two years. Stan Smith, director of UF’s Bureau of Economic and Business Research, said that as a result of the recession in Florida ...

As economic growth slowed and the housing market cooled, annual population growth declined from an average of 395,000 between 2000 and 2006 to 331,000 between 2006 and 2007 and 127,000 in 2007 and 2008 ...

Not since the 1940s will Florida's population growth have been this slow -- that's right, the slowest population growth in 60 years!

So, why ... tell us why does FPL need to build and charge its customers at a cost of no less than $18 billion the two new nuclear reactors 6 &7 at the Turkey Point power station?!?

FPL hiring out-of-state workers, say Florida hard hats

Construction workers to protest at new FPL plant ... film at 11 !!

WPTV Channel 5 reports online:

LOXAHATCHEE, FL -- Construction workers across South Florida will be protesting Thursday at the new Florida Power and Light facility today.

Workers say the construction company working on the plant in Loxahatchee has been hiring out of state workers instead of local workers.

The power plant is expected to open in about a year and a half.

The protest will take place at 4:30 Thursday afternoon outside the facility.

So, not only is FPL building plants that we may not even need in the current economic downturn, but they're using out-of-state labor to cut costs!

Earth First! Roadshow in South Florida this weekend: March 20 - Miami / March 21 - Jupiter / March 22 - Lake Worth

This just in from Palm Beach County Environmental Coalition, which has been on the front lines -- literally -- in the fight against FPL over the West County Energy Center and Barley Barber swamp, and has done some absolutely great demonstrations in front of the FPL headquarters in Juno ...

EARTH FIRST! ROADSHOW IN SOUTH FLORIDA THIS WEEKEND ...

3/20, Miami, FL
8:00pm Black Mangrove Collective
This event will include a presentation from Max Rameau of Take Back the Land
Location: 138 NW 37th Street, Miami
www.theblackmangrove.com

3/21, Jupiter FL,
Earth First! Benefit Show at Adam Barksdale’s place, with 14 bands, show starts at 4pm, EF! Roadshow will be tabling at event, doing our puppet show at 4pm and slideshow presentation at 7pm… donation $5-10
Location: 13926 157th Ct N, Jupiter Fl, 33478
For more details: www.earthfirstroadshow.wordpress.com

These two events on Friday and Saturday will be followed on Sunday with ...

Sunday March 22 at 7pm
Benefit Dinner and Theater at the Canew (collective house in LW)
822 North C Street, Lake Worth

Join us for a local foods dinner, activist theater and direct action slide show to benefit a great cause; the local Earth First! direct action movement and touring roadshow!

Making the connections between local sustainability and environmental action:
* local foods dinner - direct from our bountiful backyard garden
* tour of the garden, bee-hives, home-made solar panel and water systems
* exciting puppet theater & presentation by Earth First! about the U.S.radical environmental movement
* good company to boot!

Sliding scale donation from $10 - $20. Money will support the Earth First! direct action movement and roadshow. Wine and beer cash bar available.

Seating is limited, please R.S.V.P and let us know your meal preference (vegan, vegetarian, omnivore) evergladesearthfirst@gmail.com or 561-584-2644

PLEASE COME OUT TO ONE OF THESE EVENTS TO SHOW SUPPORT FOR AND NETWORK WITH THE ACTIVISTS AT EARTH FIRST! AND THE PALM BEACH COUNTY ENVIRONMENTAL COALITION.

One rainstorm and ... 11,000 FPL Customers Without Power

Unbelievable that one rainstorm would knock out power to 11,000 FPL customers in South Florida. Not a tropical storm, not a hurricane ... just rain and wind!!!

Whatever do we pay them so much for??

Red all about it here and here and here and here ...

Your FPL dollars at work: the FPL Pavilion at the 17th Green

Ever wonder what the money you pay to FPL every month goes toward? Electricity, right? Wrong! It also goes for a lot of other things, including marketing spend ...

FPL, like most big private corporations, has a huge marketing budget that serves not only to print up masses of glossy brochures touting things like how clean nuclear energy is, but also to ... fund the 2,322 square-foot public hospitality area with covered stadium seating known as the "FPL Pavilion at the 17th Green" during the PGA Honda Classic this week !!!

First spotted this online at the Sun-Sentinel. But, check out the online pitch for what to do while you're enjoying the The Honda Classic at the PGA National Resort and Spa's Champion Course in Palm Beach Gardens this week:

The FPL Pavilion overlooking the 17th green is another great place to hang out. For starters, you have a signature par-three hole bordered by water. The Pavilion also treats general admission fans to theatre-style seats, flat-screen televisions, and unobstructed sight lines to the hole. Just outside the FPL Pavilion is the FPL Village where you'll find lunch and a cold drink, interactive expos from FPL and you and the kids can cool off in the FPL Cool Mist Zone.

Nothing against golf ... after all, golf courses are where all the big deals are sealed in the private sector and where lobbyists get to talk privately to politicians ... and all the big deals are sealed!

Still, you would think FPL would have learned from the banking sector's excorciation over throwing bailout money around for obscene parties and spa retreats. Like, maybe it's not such a great idea to sponsor a PGA golf tournament at a spa venue and then expect not to run into opposition when asking the FPSC for nearly a billion dollars in base rate hikes later this Spring.

On the other hand, maybe FPL's marketing department has been hanging out in the FPL Cool Mist Zone for way too long ... maybe it's time for the public and their customers to start turning up the heat on 'em!

Gov. Crist wants diversified energy supply, FPL continues to push nuclear

The FPL PR campaign against choosing renewables that actually offset carbon emissions and in favor of gas-fired and nuclear-powered generation doesn't miss a beat.

While Florida Gov. Charlie Crist was telling the State legislature in Tallahassee that his "administration is committed to a diverse energy supply that balances solar, wind and nuclear," FPL spokespersons were continuing to push their two-part messaging built around zero-carbon emissions to the media.

First, goes the messaging, if John and Jane Q. Public want cleaner energy, then they should be be prepared to pay higher prices for it on their monthly electricity. Witness a perfect example of the messaging as picked up and localized in today's story in Florida Today titled "Want cleaner energy? Get ready to pay."

That's customers who should pay ... with no shouldering of the cost or responsibility for clean energy accruing to "good corporate citizen" FPL's investors, who in February saw their shareholder dividend payouts increased by 6 percent to 47.25 cents per share hot on the heels of FPL Group's announced 4Q-08 increase in profits of 82%, even as fuel costs to the energy giant were falling like a rock.

Second part of the messaging? Note FPL spokesperson Randy Clerihue's comment to Florida Today:

... that 70 percent of FPL's fuel for powering electricity-producing turbines comes from natural gas and nuclear power. Natural gas has about half the carbon emissions of coal while nuclear power has zero carbon emissions.

The clear subtext of that statement is that nuclear is clean and green, with zero carbon emissions, so if Floridans want clean energy and zero carbon emissions, they should be prepared to put up with FPL's ongoing expansion of nuclear energy.

Or, if you have a problem with nuclear -- maybe that pesky little detail, that nobody has yet figured out how to safely dispose of the radioactive waste generated by nuclear plants that tends to hang around the planet for millions of years -- then why not try gas-fired plants as the next best thing! Just witness the wonders that the West County Energy Center is doing for the environment in Barley Barber swamp ...

No emphasis on conversion to true renewables like solar here in the Sunshine State, no real dedication to harnessing the winds that blow almost constantly across the Florida peninsula.

Just take what's on offer from FPL and the PSC and the politicians whose campaign coffers are filled with FPL-linked donations funnelled by the legions of FPL lobbyists deployed around the state. True competition will be blocked, communities from South Daytona to Biscayne Park who want to renegotiate their FPL franchise agreements in order to switch to providers who can help them convert to alternative renewable energy will be bullied ....

Oh, and by the way, you'll also have to pay for it -- and in 2010, FPL customers will have to pay for two new reactors at Turkey Point to the tune of nearly a billion dollars more -- whether you like it or not!

So, thanks Guv ... glad you're committed to energy diversity, but we'd like to see a bit more real "balance" in the equation, so that solar- and wind-generated power can come close to the nuclear-powered and coal-fired electricity that FPL keeps sending us through the grid and that required to subsidize, like it or not!

Boca neighborhood hopes to stop FPL, T-Mobile tower extension

Boca Raton area residents are protesting FPL plans to add a T-mobile cellular extension to a 70-foot transmission tower in their area, brining the total height of the tower to 80 feet, according to a story today in the South Forida Sun-Sentinel.

The paper reports that the The Palm Beach Farms Neighborhood Association is against the proposed extension, which "does not require City Council approval. City code allows the antenna, as does federal law."

Unknown heretofore to this blog is the fact reported by the paper that:

FPL has a contract with T-Mobile to lease the cell phone company space. In a statement, the company said: "It is common practice for communication carriers to use our poles to attach its facilities. It is also a common practice for us to use their poles to attach our equipment."

Read the full Sun-Sentinel story online, here.

Anti-FPL activists gets Palm Beach Post reader support

Anti-FPL protester Panagioti Tsolkas received positive support from Palm Beach Post readers in letters to the editor published by the paper on Sunday.

Following criticism in a Feb. 8 column by retired Post editorial writer Dan Moffett, one reader wrote in that the actions of Tsolkas and others arrested for protesting environmental damage by an FPL plant in Palm Beach County are "legitimate attempts to draw attention to serious, even life-threatening situations," and continued:

"The protest against Florida Power & Light Co.'s West County Energy Center was a perfect example. This project could pollute our air and threaten the purity of our ground water. Its location makes it a danger to the Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge."

Another reader said that Moffett's column was "an untruthful attempt to influence readers against an environmental activist who risked his safety and freedom to protect what little remains of the environment in Florida," adding that:

"Throughout our history, the powers of the status quo have used all kinds of punitive measures to silence our voices. But we will not be dissuaded, we will not be frightened, we will not be silenced.

Tsolkas also wrote in his own defense:

I was sentenced to 60 days in the Palm Beach County Jail by Judge Laura Johnson - double the time requested by the state attorney - for asserting my right to defend land, liberty and the water we all drink from.

And, he noted the response of Henry David Thoreau, jailed for opposing slavery, to his friend Ralph Waldo Emerson when the latter visited Thoreau in jail:

When asked by Emerson what he was doing in jail, Thoreau responded with an answer that should resonate with people of conscience today in Palm Beach County; perhaps even The Post's Dan Moffett: "What are you doing out there?"

Read the letters to the Palm Beach Post editor, here.

Anti-FPL activist writes 'Open Letter' from jail

Panagioti Tsolkas, Palm Beach County activist incarcerated for protesting the West County Energy Center and sentenced to 60 days in jail "for defending my home from Florida Power and Light," has written an Open letter to people of the Everglades (and those who care about it), posted today at the Palm Beach County Environmental Coalition's site.

Since writing the letter, Tsolkas was released on a $5,000 appellate bond and after serving 16 days of the 60-day sentence is now awaiting an appeal to a higher court of the circuit court verdict against him and co-activist Lynn Purvis, who has opted to serve out her entire 30-day sentence.

Stop FPL has posted about the two activists' sentencing here and about the efforts to stop the environmental degradation caused by the West County Energy Center, here.

The latter post links to a lengthy story at Broward-Palm Beach New Times, here.

Meanwhile, Everglades Earth First! has called for a Week of Action in Solidarity with jailed activists, with details online here.

Anti-FPL demo called in Palm Beach for Feb. 24

The Palm Beach County Environmental Coalition has called for a Feb. 18-24 week of solidarity with 26 activists arrested for blockading the construction entrance to the 3,800-MW West County Energy Center in Palm Beach County and to protest the Feb. 2 sentencing of two activists in an earlier protest at the site.

On Feb. 18, over a hundred anti-FPL activists gathered and 26 were arrested for blockading the construction entrance to the power plant, which is adjacent to headwaters of both the Everglades and Loxahatchee River.

On February 2, 2009, two of the activists, Lynne Purvis and Panagioti Tsolkas, were sentenced to 30 days and 60 days, respectively, for their participation in the blockade of the plant's entrance.

The coalition says the plant is being blockaded because:

The WCEC is permitted by the DEP to use over 7 billion gallons of water a year, drawn from surface, aquifer and re-use sources in and near the Everglades. It has also been permitted to emit over 12 million tons of C02 annually—an amount greater than the thirty least polluting nations on Earth.

Read more here about the week of "Solidarity actions with Everglades Earth First! Political Prisoners, Feb 18-24 and the Feb. 24 demonstration called for the DEP Southeast Regional Office 3-5pm at 400 N. Congress, West Palm Beach.

FPL Protesters in Palm Beach Outraged Over Sentence

On Monday, Feb. 2nd, a Palm Beach county judge outraged anti-FPL activists when he sentenced Panagioti Tsolkas and Lynne Purvis for their role in a 2008 road-block protest at a new Florida Power and Light power plant sight.

WPBF-TV reported that the judge sentenced Tsolkas to 60 days behind bars and Purvis up to 30 days.

Members of Everglades Earth First! and the Palm Beach County Environmental Coalition protested that the sentence is too harsh and violated the activists' right to free speech.

The full story is online at MSNBC.com, here:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28999807/

FPL Rivera plant revamp to hamper Palm Beach reef project

The Palm Beach Post reports today that FP&L's plan to revamp its Rivera Beach power plant "could throw a wrench into Palm Beach County's efforts to create artificial reefs off its coast."

For more than two decades, the county has leased land on the south side of the power plant and used it as a staging area to store rocks and other supplies for artificial reefs.

But FPL has warned the county that construction at the plant could render the site off limits from 2011 to 2015, County Commission Chairman Jeff Koons said.

Read the full Post story online, here.

Activists say FPL is killing 1,000-year-old Cypress Trees

Palm Beach County activists are charging FPL with killing thousand-year-old cypress trees and trying to hide it in 455-acre Barley Barber swamp area, according to a Broward-Palm Beach New Times report.

Activists at Everglades Earth First, already battling FPL in court, says that FPL is pumping water so quickly from the area that the millenial trees are dying off at a rapid rate.

The paper quotes Everglades Earth First activist Russ McSpadden as saying:

"The FPL power plant sucks up water so fast from the aquifer that it is pulling the soil down below, leaving the roots of these ancient trees exposed. The whole place is collapsing."

FPL apparently purchased Barley Barber swamp in Martin County three decades ago and for years gave tours of the area known for its ancient cypress trees and abundant wildlife until closing down the swamp after the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

Read the full Broward-Palm Beach New Times story online here.

Palm Beach activists mobilize against FPL plant

The Broward-Palm Beach New Times reports this week on efforts by members of the Palm Beach County Environmental Coalition stop a $2 billion natural-gas-fired power plant being built within the Everglades Agricultural Area.

The West County Energy Center project includes construction of a natural gas pipeline and plans for sotrage of millions of gallons of oil nearby as backup fuel.

FPL calls the plant "a Next Generation Clean Energy Center" ... which is to be built directly across Southern Boulevard from the Arthur R. Marshall Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge on 220-acres purchased by FPL in 2005.

What's more:

FPL said that the West County Energy Center would pump almost 15 million gallons of water per day from the Upper Floridian Aquifer. Wastewater, in turn, would be shot 3,200 feet deep into the ground via a method called deep-well injection.

The plant will be fueled by liquid natural gas. According to court documents, the fuel arrives by ship at ports in Mississippi and Alabama, and it's funneled into an underground pipeline that runs across the Gulf of Mexico and the State of Florida. The pipeline was already 691 miles long. A new section of it — 34.26 miles — extends to reach the West County Energy Center ...

Read the full Broward New Times story online here.