There is significant risk to the public, this week, through public hearings to take place on FPL's environmental assessment of impacts from $24 billion in new nuclear reactors at Turkey Point. The risk is that the Nuclear Regulatory Commission does not seriously question FPL's impact statement, particularly on issues related to Biscayne National Park, water supply, above-ground power lines down the US 1 corridor, and sea level rise.
Although President Obama will also be in Miami on the day of the first public hearing on new nuclear, he is unlikely to even know about the critical process unfolding related to FPL's scheme, financed of course by ratepayers thanks to "early cost recovery" of nuclear reactors that haven't been permitted yet.
At the same time that FPL is spending hundreds of millions on its nuclear ambitions, it is also spending considerable lobbying effort to kill off solar power adoption by consumers.
This weekend, the New York Times featured a story about the main electric utility in Hawaii trying to discourage solar power in the state, because solar power threatens its business model. What readers may have failed to notice is that Hawaii Electric is on the verge of being taken over by FPL's parent company, NextEra Energy. (FPL is NextEra's biggest subsidiary.)
If Hawaii is a postcard from the future, Florida is a nightmare in the present. Unlike Hawaii, where legislators are sticking up for the logic in solar power installation by consumers, in Florida utilities like FPL have the run of the state legislature. Other states require utilities to bury high voltage power lines. Not Florida.
Utilities were once allowed to be monopolies in exchange for assurances that the businesses would be conservatively run and for the public interest. No longer. FPL's basic attitude to people -- unlike its advertising and marketing campaigns that try to humanize its corporate image -- is "screw you".
Voters care enough to elect local officials who are willing to speak against FPL. But is the Nuclear Regulatory Commission too compromised to form an independent judgment about new nuclear at Turkey Point? Pay attention how this question resolves in South Florida.
Although President Obama will also be in Miami on the day of the first public hearing on new nuclear, he is unlikely to even know about the critical process unfolding related to FPL's scheme, financed of course by ratepayers thanks to "early cost recovery" of nuclear reactors that haven't been permitted yet.
Hearing in Miami, Florida
When: Wednesday, April 22, 7:00 - 10:00 p.m.
Where: Florida International University
Stadium Club Room
FIU Stadium
11200 S.W. 8th Street
Miami, FL 33196
Hearings in Homestead, Florida
When: Thursday, April 23
First Session: 1:30-4:30 p.m.
Second Session: 7:00 - 10:00 p.m.
Where: Hampton Inn and Suites
Miami-South/Homestead
Reef Room
2855 N.E. 9th Street
Homestead, Florida 33033
At the same time that FPL is spending hundreds of millions on its nuclear ambitions, it is also spending considerable lobbying effort to kill off solar power adoption by consumers.
This weekend, the New York Times featured a story about the main electric utility in Hawaii trying to discourage solar power in the state, because solar power threatens its business model. What readers may have failed to notice is that Hawaii Electric is on the verge of being taken over by FPL's parent company, NextEra Energy. (FPL is NextEra's biggest subsidiary.)
“Hawaii is a postcard from the future,” said Adam Browning, executive director of Vote Solar, a policy and advocacy group based in California.
Other states and countries, including California, Arizona, Japan and Germany, are struggling to adapt to the growing popularity of making electricity at home, which puts new pressures on old infrastructure like circuits and power lines and cuts into electric company revenue.
As a result, many utilities are trying desperately to stem the rise of solar, either by reducing incentives, adding steep fees or effectively pushing home solar companies out of the market. In response, those solar companies are fighting back through regulators, lawmakers and the courts.
If Hawaii is a postcard from the future, Florida is a nightmare in the present. Unlike Hawaii, where legislators are sticking up for the logic in solar power installation by consumers, in Florida utilities like FPL have the run of the state legislature. Other states require utilities to bury high voltage power lines. Not Florida.
Utilities were once allowed to be monopolies in exchange for assurances that the businesses would be conservatively run and for the public interest. No longer. FPL's basic attitude to people -- unlike its advertising and marketing campaigns that try to humanize its corporate image -- is "screw you".
Voters care enough to elect local officials who are willing to speak against FPL. But is the Nuclear Regulatory Commission too compromised to form an independent judgment about new nuclear at Turkey Point? Pay attention how this question resolves in South Florida.
5 comments:
My home has solar and FPL helped me pay for it.
Germany gets 50% of it's power from solar.
When you talk about NUKES I go to Japan for the latest news...
from FIS.com / April 13, 2015 / An investigation carried out by The Independent newspaper reveals that there is a risk that food manufactured around the Fukushima nuclear disaster site may be entering the United Kingdom, raising the prospect of mildly carcinogenic ingredients entering the food system.
According to the report issued by the media source, products contaminated by radiation, which include tea, noodles and chocolate bars, have already been exported from Japan under the cover of “false labelling by fraudsters.”
This results of this investigation have been released after Taiwanese investigators uncovered “more than 100 radioactive food products which had been produced in Fukushima but falsely packaged to give their origin as Tokyo.”
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Japanese Court Forbids Restart of Takahama Nuclear Plant
April 14, 2015
Translator
takahama-npp-2via digitaljournal.com / April 15, 2015 / Pro-nuclear proponents suffered a serious setback today after Fukui District Court’s three-judge panel handed down a ruling forbidding the restart of two of the 13 nuclear reactors in Fukui Prefecture.
Fukui Prefecture has a total of 13 commercial nuclear reactors clustered in a line along the region’s short coastline. The prefecture has earned the rather notorious nickname “Genpatsu Ginza,” or Nuclear Alley, not only because of the number of reactors, but because of the decidedly uneven number of nuclear-friendly politicians who dominate Fukui’s government positions.
More:
via Japan Times / April 11, 2015 / A remote-controlled robot inserted to survey the inside of the No. 1 reactor at the damaged Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant has stopped functioning, Tokyo Electric Power Co. said.
As a first step in the utility’s effort to remove melted nuclear fuel from the bottom of the unit’s primary containment vessel, the shape-shifting robot was sent in Friday morning to find the exact location of the highly radioactive debris.
Set to cover some 20 meters of the first floor on the first day, the robot began its trip at around 11:20 a.m. but halted at around 2:10 p.m. after completing two-thirds of the route, Tepco said.
The utility said footage from the robot’s camera shows it passed an opening leading to the vessel’s basement, where the molten fuel is believed to have ended up after the core meltdowns occurred after the March 2011 quake and tsunami.
Anonymous #1, FPL paid for it because it WAS REQUIRED TO DO SO by a more forward-thinking Florida Public Service Commission five years ago. Last year, the PSC gave the utilities everything they asked for, i.e. almost no renewable energy or energy efficiency programs for consumers.
FPL's purchase of the Florida Legislature really pays dividends!
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