In great environmental battles -- like the one to determine whether FPL will be the first utility in decades with the permit to build two new nuclear reactors -- there is always a turning point. That turning point may have occurred the other day when a camera caught South Miami Philip Stoddard informing President Obama: if you are really concerned about climate change and protecting Americans, then you can't allow new nuclear reactors -- costing $24 billion -- to be built by FPL in the region of the nation most vulnerable to sea level rise.
What this photo says is that presidential candidates for 2016 are going to have to take a position on new nuclear at Turkey Point by FPL.
In the late 1990's, when the battle was raging over the fate of the Homestead Air Force Base -- whether Miami-Dade insiders would hijack a military base for private profit -- we never had an iconic image like this, but then we didn't have ubiquitous camera phones, either. Good for Mayor Stoddard and the team fighting FPL both on the new reactors, the high voltage power lines up the US 1 corridor, and the horrendous pollution of FPL's failed cooling canals in its two ancient reactors.
The battle is set between civic activists, environmentalists, and community leaders and one of the nation's leading electric utilities.
Don't forget how FPL -- in the last mayoral campaign in South Miami -- funded a reprehensible personal attack against Mayor Stoddard. Its lobbyists and at-arms-length subcontractors tried to accuse Mayor Stoddard of pedophilia. Gutter politics claims all one must do is allege to cast doubt. It didn't work with voters. FPL tried to walk away from its ugly fruit, but it lost big time and also incurred lasting enmity. Corporations are people, too.
What threatens FPL about Mayor Philip Stoddard is not only that he has a command of science and fact, but he is also a very effective communicator. Between now and 2016, opponents of FPL nuclear power at Turkey Point need to make every single presidential candidate -- in the primaries and in the general election -- take a position on Turkey Point.
No one, though, should shed a tear for FPL if its armor is pierced. The pay of top executives is profit-based, and it will continue to accumulate in private bank accounts to the tune of tens of millions of dollars at ratepayers' expense -- thanks to early cost recovery of the new nuclear it is planning, Gov. Rick Scott and the GOP state legislature. FPL execs will make millions right up to the final annual report after its plans for Turkey Point are cancelled when they'll wash their hands and smile, "That was a profitable fight."
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| South Miami Mayor Philip Stoddard with President Obama on Earth Day with a Nuclear Message. |
In the late 1990's, when the battle was raging over the fate of the Homestead Air Force Base -- whether Miami-Dade insiders would hijack a military base for private profit -- we never had an iconic image like this, but then we didn't have ubiquitous camera phones, either. Good for Mayor Stoddard and the team fighting FPL both on the new reactors, the high voltage power lines up the US 1 corridor, and the horrendous pollution of FPL's failed cooling canals in its two ancient reactors.
The battle is set between civic activists, environmentalists, and community leaders and one of the nation's leading electric utilities.
Don't forget how FPL -- in the last mayoral campaign in South Miami -- funded a reprehensible personal attack against Mayor Stoddard. Its lobbyists and at-arms-length subcontractors tried to accuse Mayor Stoddard of pedophilia. Gutter politics claims all one must do is allege to cast doubt. It didn't work with voters. FPL tried to walk away from its ugly fruit, but it lost big time and also incurred lasting enmity. Corporations are people, too.
What threatens FPL about Mayor Philip Stoddard is not only that he has a command of science and fact, but he is also a very effective communicator. Between now and 2016, opponents of FPL nuclear power at Turkey Point need to make every single presidential candidate -- in the primaries and in the general election -- take a position on Turkey Point.
No one, though, should shed a tear for FPL if its armor is pierced. The pay of top executives is profit-based, and it will continue to accumulate in private bank accounts to the tune of tens of millions of dollars at ratepayers' expense -- thanks to early cost recovery of the new nuclear it is planning, Gov. Rick Scott and the GOP state legislature. FPL execs will make millions right up to the final annual report after its plans for Turkey Point are cancelled when they'll wash their hands and smile, "That was a profitable fight."
12 comments:
What we learned in dialogue with the NRC consultants is that they are monitoring the current crisiswith the overheating Cooling Canals of TP 3&4 , the FPL request for drawing 100 million gallons a day from OUR SOLE DRINKING WATER SOURCE, the BiscYne Aquifer, for the next 2 years, but which could go on ad infinitum. That request and the approval by SFWMD is being contested and will be litigated administratively. THAT issue must be of tremendous concern for all South Florida residents. We are now competing with a voraciously thirsty power plant for our future water source, and they have not figured out how to solve the current crisis. The County had better get on top of this issue and SHOW LEADERSHIP to protect our water source. So when you write to the NRC about the potential risks to us with 6&7, and another letter about the problems with 3&4!
If the premise is sea level rise is inevitable and the Turkey Point reactors must be built atop a 35 foot high site to defy the higher ocean and possible storm surges in the future, why does the Everglades Restoration seem irrelevant if in fact the ENP will be covered with seawater?
Read the posts on this topic. Addressed this question only a few days ago!
The previous question is good one with a good answer: If we restore freshwater flow in the Everglades, we hold out saltwater much longer, allowing time for adaptation of people and wild things alike. If we let everything collapse quickly, it will be mayhem for us humans, and highly destructive to the environment.
Where is the waste from these reactors stored? Onsite storage?
For $24 billion FPL could buy Cree Inc. light bulbs and still have enough money left over to retrofit almost every office to more efficient T8 led bulbs. Some sort of future energy credit subsidy I'm missing? Are they building the plant to sell credits to other coal power companies upstate in exchange?
Both sides aren't making any sense. Billions to restore the everglades flow which will be a salt water marsh and billions to build reactors where they will be under water. The billions are cancelling each other out on "settled science."
Stoddards point is the same that I've made on this blog many times: Everglades restoration puts more water into the central part of the system, creating hydraulic pressure that will keep salt water intrusion at bay ... certainly longer than if we do nothing. Fixing the Everglades is economic necessity even for those who don't believe in the Everglades as a wilderness that ought to be restored to show we aren't entirely greedy selfish bastards.
I am so ashamed of the EPA, NRC, Every weasel elected to anything,and the SFWMD board. First FPL asked for a 20 year permit knowing they needed a 20 year permit. This problem with the cooling water is only going to get worse. Everyone knows it and doesn't want to say the obvious.The board of SFWMD asked one person if giving FPL the permit was a good idea so they absolved themselves. Why anyone walks up to that podium and says thank you amazes me. The enviro community needs to stand up and ssy HELL NO. Shut down this plant period. Times up FPL has been neglecting maintenance for years. Money for stockholders and executives comes first. The SFWMD board also knows power plants get water BEFORE PEOPLE. That was statement made long ago and it still stands. FPL commits fraud everyday. They also buy silence. From the very people who say they are saving the enviroment. Sadly there is no more compromise. We are at the end game. You can put lipstick on a pig but its still a pig.
I was wondering how you determined that FPL and" it's lobbyists and at arms length subcontractors tried to accuse Mayor Stoddard of pedophilia?" What sources did you use to claim this connection?
My husband and I share the opposition to the construction of the two proposed Nuclear Power Reactors - 6 & 7- at Florida Power and Light's Turkey Point facility.
Mayor of South Miami was incomprehensibly chosen to be with president Obama in the Everglades on Earth day.
Mayor Stoddard really snowed the residents by fighting huge power lines along a US I from Turkey point North a few years ago. His re-election campaign was mostly financed by special interests and people who opposed the power lines. At those hearings the citizens were lulled in believing that the "reactors will never happen". Suddenly they back on the table. South Miami spent lots of money on legal fees and promptly lost the power-line fight against FPL but it assured the mayor’s re-elected. The same mayor proceeded to forge a 30 year franchise fee agreement with FPL where alternative options were presented and available. Its election time again and the same mayor is a poster boy against the nuclear plants. I am afraid that history will repeat itself. Except for photo-voltaic panels on his own roof there is no evidence that Stoddard is truly an environmentalist. For the money he wasted/s on many studies and increased staff to promote his friend’s half baked urban designs of increased density and height with no green space, he could have covered several South Miami public buildings with photo-voltaic panels and reduced our dependence on FPL and save taxpayer dollars. Stoddard touts SM as a “walkable, bikable city but neither walker nor biker is safe here. Flanked by a few other commissioners ,a ruthless manager and sycophant lawyer they are rapidly increasing density in the city with resulting loss of trees and wild life. The latest project, in our historic black district, places a parking lot for a high density low rental apartment complex seven feet from neighbors bed rooms. Stoddard refuses to listen to residents and objectively assess the true needs.
Florida just passed a referendum where 75% of the Florida Population voted to preserve and protect environmentally sensitive land and water . The Turkey point site belongs in that category. Politicians are already trying to game that issues because of the huge sums of taxpayer money involved. Stoddard and new urbanist co-horts are heavily involved in grabbing a piece of the Ludlam Trail which except for 5 houses, does not border South Miami. Oh yes, they want to annex un-incorporated areas to the City.
All I want to ask you is to listen to the people and not just align with a list of elected officials to make the decisions. Please don’t be blind sided by the so called “good guys”.
My husband and I share the opposition to the construction of the two proposed Nuclear Power Reactors - 6 & 7- at Florida Power and Light's Turkey Point facility.
Mayor of South Miami was incomprehensibly chosen to be with president Obama in the Everglades on Earth day.
Mayor Stoddard really snowed the residents by fighting huge power lines along a US I from Turkey point North a few years ago. His re-election campaign was mostly financed by special interests and people who opposed the power lines. At those hearings the citizens were lulled in believing that the "reactors will never happen". Suddenly they back on the table. South Miami spent lots of money on legal fees and promptly lost the power-line fight against FPL but it assured the mayor’s re-elected. The same mayor proceeded to forge a 30 year franchise fee agreement with FPL where alternative options were presented and available. Its election time again and the same mayor is a poster boy against the nuclear plants. I am afraid that history will repeat itself. Except for photo-voltaic panels on his own roof there is no evidence that Stoddard is truly an environmentalist. For the money he wasted/s on many studies and increased staff to promote his friend’s half baked urban designs of increased density and height with no green space, he could have covered several South Miami public buildings with photo-voltaic panels and reduced our dependence on FPL and save taxpayer dollars. Stoddard touts SM as a “walkable, bikable city but neither walker nor biker is safe here. Flanked by a few other commissioners ,a ruthless manager and sycophant lawyer they are rapidly increasing density in the city with resulting loss of trees and wild life. The latest project, in our historic black district, places a parking lot for a high density low rental apartment complex seven feet from neighbors bed rooms. Stoddard refuses to listen to residents and objectively assess the true needs.
Florida just passed a referendum where 75% of the Florida Population voted to preserve and protect environmentally sensitive land and water . The Turkey point site belongs in that category. Politicians are already trying to game that issues because of the huge sums of taxpayer money involved. Stoddard and new urbanist co-horts are heavily involved in grabbing a piece of the Ludlam Trail which except for 5 houses, does not border South Miami. Oh yes, they want to annex un-incorporated areas to the City.
All I want to ask you is to listen to the people and not just align with a list of elected officials to make the decisions. Please don’t be blind sided by the so called “good guys”.
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