FPL's Steve Scroggs, who is in charge of permitting the two new planned nuclear reactors at Turkey Point, told the Planning Advisory Board a few weeks ago of his company's plan to rock mine 10 million cubic yards for fill; "If it doesn't work for Everglades restoration, it doesn't work." The way things are going, Everglades restoration doesn't have a chance.
One of the little gambits that FPL is playing: to prevent issues related to permitting its existing cooling canals, salt water intrusion-- including the movement of tritium, a radioactive isotope-- from interfering with permitting for its new, planned reactors. If you happen to go to the county commission meeting on May 28th, you will witness the issue raised and quickly throttled by the unreformable majority, marching to the tune of FPL corporate lawyers. "The one has nothing to do with the other."
In a logical world where money and power were held in check, reversing the course of salt water intrusion would be a higher priority than putting additional impacts in place. Let's fix what is wrong first, before making things worse. But this isn't a logical world except where money and power steers the public interest into a sausage grinder. It has paid for a lot of braces, summer vacations in Europe, and college tuitions.
There are other issues, related to the Everglades. Although FPL is not in the rock mining business, its activities call to the forefront the proliferation of rock mines near the Everglades on all sides, in almost every county. There is plenty of evidence that rock mines are bad for the Everglades, but this too is ignored by counties and local elected officials.
You want to know what gets pulverized in a Florida rock mine? Meaning. The deformation of language to ascribe false arguments to reality. The principles of democracy and the law. The crushing of representative democracy.
So don't be surprised if FPL's power lines get shifted from the US 1 Corridor to a corridor in Everglades National Park, or, if the climate changes in South Dade because Florida Power and Light is allowed to evaporate 60 million gallons per day into the atmosphere of "clean" re-use water, or if the restoration of Biscayne Bay drifts further and further into the future, like a ship receding on the horizon. There will be plenty of engineers who claim to be "green" (isn't everyone?) testifying that it is all for the Everglades, it is all good, it is the best we can do. And don't be surprised if regulators shrug their shoulders in public and congratulate each other in private before moving out with pensions or into private industry to re-emerge as highly paid consultants.
The Everglades have proven exceedingly useful as a catcher's mitt for whatever power and money throws our way. It is no wonder the public is confused by all the cheering of who and what it is for.
3 comments:
You say, "But this isn't a logical world except where money and power steers the public interest into a sausage grinder."
And since nobody wants to see how sausage is made, I believe this is the reason for activist exhaution and so much apathy in even the deeply affected public. Let's hope folks get really mad, mad enough to protect themselves from the corporate stranglehold on Florida decision makers. We must remind them this is supposed to be a democracy and that they represent all of us!
Thank you for this wonderful piece.
Great piece on this topic. I just got finished reading FPL's application for re-zoning. They have really good lawyers--the application makes it seem like they are doing this to help restore the everglades and rid the glades of pesky, environment-hating farmers. To find out what is really going on you need to carefully read the application, and what commissioner has time for that?
FPL's pulling off some pretty tricky misdirection, and there doesn't really seem like there's anything we can do about it.
More 'smoke and mirrors' legal bull from FPL... no doubt supported by taxpayer dollars in the form of tax breaks and subsidies, the only thing that is keeping breath in a once-dead nuclear industry body that is trying to ressurect itself under the guise of claims to be carbon neutral (a lie - check out the carbon intensity of the nuclear fuel cycle if you doubt this.)
Remember, every dollar 'gifted' by so-called representatives of the American taxpayer to the nuclear industry is a theft from a truly sustainable energy future.
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