My post on the "off-normal" event at FPL's Turkey Point nuclear facility provoked a detailed FPL response, ending: "shame on you". The shame comment will be addressed in due course. But first, thanks to several commenters after the FPL anonymous response. It is noteworthy when FPL technical and spin doctors, knowing that they face growing public resistance to new nuclear reactors at Turkey Point, use a blog -- Eyeonmiami-- to offer technical rebuttals when the company is notorious in withholding details of its planned nuclear expansion. In public meetings scheduled by county government, to review safety violations at the existing reactors and its plans for new reactors, FPL did not even send representatives. Audiences addressed their questions from a microphone to an empty table on a podium. The anonymity of a blog is an easier place for the multi-billion dollar corporation to express itself: through a poster named "Dave" (Dave, is he the brother of "Bob", the better known half of FPL television marketing efforts?)
Well, Dave, here are a few other points to answer since you appear to have the inside line to corporate communications and tactical response to the blogsphere. A partial list: 1) why hasn't FPL disclosed its list of compensation for high paid executives, as requested by the Public Service Commission; 2) Why did FPL lobbyists engage in private Blackberry communication with PSC staffers, against clear PSC rules and ordinary ethical consideration; 3) Why does FPL want us to pay a drastic rate increase and why does FPL oppose meaningful--not just token--energy efficiency standards to guide future infrastructure investment, 4) Why, in its planning for two new nuclear reactors at Turkey Point, has FPL embraced a divide and conquer strategy-- withholding information from Miami-Dade and state permitting agencies until the force of that information, on water supply and rock mining for example, would not be able to stop the new nuke permitting process, 5) why did FPL fail to undertake testing as required in its agreement with the state of Florida to measure movement of super saline water from cooling canals at its existing Turkey Point nuclear units and why will it take so long to complete science on those failed promises, 6) why did FPL object to using tritium as a tracer for movement of water underground when the only conceivable source of tritium is its nuclear facility at Turkey Point; 7) why has FPL stood by while wetlands around Turkey Point turned into a nuclear apocalyptic vision out of Mad Max; 8) why did the top manager of Turkey Point resign suddenly on the basis of safety concerns at the nuclear reactors that you, Dave, assure blog readers is safe; 9) why did FPL employees and lobbyists bundle campaign contributions to South Miami mayor Horace Feliu in advance of his stating the city's support for new overhead power transmission lines despite the fact that the city commission had authorized no such support?
I'm sure there's a 10th question I've missed, that some of our readers can offer up to Dave.
Lastly, I'd like to address FPL Dave's "shame on me" that concluded his explanation of why the FPL report of an "off normal" event at the reactor site was not off normal. Like many of our readers, Dave, the fact that we are not nuclear engineers does not preclude us from opining on the matter of nuclear power. You are a multi-billion dollar corporation. We are citizens whose interests are presumably represented by government agencies. I'm not sure that is always the case. FPL appears settled on using this permitting period for new nuclear, to test out new tactics for battling the public. I meant, "informing the public". That includes disclosing technical information according to its will and supporting whatever tactics it can legally employ to suppress other information that may appear in public too late to matter in the context of predetermined outcomes that may be or are in the process of being embraced by elected officials with their hands out.
18 comments:
Dave, don’t bother to answer. This group hates FPL. No matter what facts about any “good” things FPL does FPL is and always will be the “evil big corporation out to rape the people of Florida”. FPL is not perfect; as a retired FPL employee, with over 30 years at FPL, I have seen both the good and bad side of FPL. This group only wants to acknowledge the bad side of FPL. Anyone who tries to provide facts to counter misleading or biased information will be shouted down by the authors and the followers of the blog. Don’t waste your time. Anyone with any factual knowledge of FPL is considered the enemy.
X FPL - We do encourage their work on solar as Marsh Maid said:
FPL we are doing everything we can to make clean power generation profitable for you at the PSC and Legislature. Will you please help us?
And, I don't think that FP&L fees are too high for power. Write a blog...and send to me. geniusofdespair@yahoo.com
I was at one of the meetings where FP&L refused to answer any questions even though the State set up a podium for them -- that was empty. What was that about? You are one of my favorite readers..I welcome your feedback.
#10 why is FPL running commercials on the virtues of saving energy in a market that is witnessing a mass exodus out of Florida, yet FPL continues to pursue more generation plants in vital environmental zones?
Speaking out of both sides of their collective mouths, ehh?
To exFPLer, it is simple, FPL does not respect opposing views, no compromise, no concessions and all resources focus on overpowering the activists who care about the future.
Wow. What do eight of those questions have to do with Dave's post?
FPL chooses to answer only questions it wants to answer, I wonder if they used their Blackberries to text the questions to the PSC members before any hearings commenced?
Better yet how about during the hearings?
XFPL'er: I don't "hate" FPL. That's a word, by the way, better applying to persons not corporations. Part of the problem is that people get confused about the obligation of people to corporations. Corporations exist as a function of state regulation, and that is especially so for regulated utilities. Sadly, people forget who is the boss, here. It is not the corporation.
I have written that FPL the corporation deserves credit for its work in renewable energy (mostly in other states than Florida, to date). Could it be doing a lot more: definitely.
My earlier post attracted plenty of comments addressing "Dave's". Now that FPL has stepped up to express its point of view on our blog, why would the corporation not take the opportunity to address the other nine questions I asked or the tenth that readers might provide.
This is great, Esto esta buenisimo!!! LOL
This has no name! Esto no tiene nombre!!!
"FPL is not perfect". Geez, when it comes to nuclear power in a location like Turkey Point they better be. Will that be their excuse down the line if a problem just "happens"?
Gimlet, I believe I'm having trouble deciding which of you knows less about what they're talking about, you or the Genius. We'll call that a tie for now.
You are, however, more disingenuous than your simple-minded cohort.
Congratulations, sir.
Sir;
Obfuscation and misdirection. You did not address the point of my post, which was your factually incorrect and sophomoric sensationalization of an event for the sake of bashing FPL. Unfortunately, it involves nuclear power, an industry used to playing punching bag to misinformed, self-aggrandizing pundits.
You don't know me, so how can you state that I work for FPL? I will be factually correct. I worked for FPL, mainly at Turkey Point, from 1989 until April of 2007. I am not now an employee of, nor do I have any relationship with FPL. I am ambivalent about issues surrounding FPL, but I do take an active interest in misinformation and mischaracterization concerning the commercial nuclear industry, which you recently engaged in on your blog.
My response to your questions is that I don't espouse the view that FPL is perfect. It does very well in some circumstances, not very well in others, and middle of the road in others. It's not my desire become involved in passing judgement on each and every instance. I do note (where you do not) that the executive that entertained PSC member(s) at his residence is no longer in his position. I don't believe in coincidences.
I do know from personal experience that with very few exceptions, the FPL folks I knew in my eighteen year career were trying to do the right thing all the time. I say this having held positions where I was able to observe senior managers and some senior executives (many of whom are still with the corporation) involved in decision making that had ramifications in the environmental arena, as well as many others.
FPL is meticulous about meeting the requirements of the law and doing the right thing in my experience. While people will not always agree on what the "right" thing is, FPL, like any other corporation or individual, attempts at all times to further its interests. In FPL's case, that means providing a product safely and efficiently to its customers while maximizing shareholder equity. FPL has its perspective, as we all do. I defend your right to your perspective, and I think they are entitled to theirs as well, whether we agree with it or not. After all, the function of a publicly owned corporation is to concentrate the wealth of the many into the hands of the few for the benefit of the many. Own any corporate stock?
Balancing the needs of customers, shareholders, employees, politicians, the environment, and safety is not always easy, and can be very, very complicated.
It's easy to sit on the sidelines and lob potshots. Do us all a favor when you do... please get your facts right.
At the end of the day I can always amicably agree to disagree with you. I wish you and this great blog (and I sincerely mean that, I read it every day) continued success, health, and happiness.
Dave
G.O.D. – Like Dave I read the blog every day, in fact it’s the only blog I follow on a regular basis. I quit adding my comments due to the remarks posted by others that attack anyone who wants to correct misinformation about FPL. Your readers and Gimlet tend to attack the messenger and many times don’t provide facts to support their point of view. Dave expressed my feelings very well in his third paragraph. In fact I could not have expressed my total feelings better in any way than Dave did in his entire response. I’m not inclined to write a guest blog, I don’t want to be the defender of FPL, I just want to try and correct misinformation when I see it. FPL has a corporate communications business unit to take care of public relations. BTW – they do a very poor job in that area. Enough on my perspective.
Gimlet – Again you attack the messenger, you don’t have any facts to dispute the information that Dave provided to correct your incorrect and biased retort. During my past FPL employment FPL was awarded the Deming Prize (Some say FPL bought it, but that’s another story). As part of the process there was a phrase that has always stuck with me, “Speak With Facts”. This was drilled into us by the Japanese counselors. Here is some more information that you are not being 100% factual with..
1 - why hasn't FPL disclosed its list of compensation for high paid executives, as requested by the Public Service Commission
Fact: They did give the list as requested. If you had been watching the hearings you would have seen the document distributed to staff, PSC members and intervenors as a confidential document. There was discussion about the contents with much care about details not being in the public record. Did the information get released so you and I can view it? No, but they did provide the information as requested by the PSC.
8 - why did the top manager of Turkey Point resign suddenly on the basis of safety concerns at the nuclear reactors that you, Dave, assure blog readers is safe
What top manager? Where are your facts? What was his name and what position did he hold? Are talking about the “top” nuclear operator, David Hoffman? I do not believe that operators are managers. You distort the truth by boosting the title of the person.
In your most recent blog you quote recent analysis by Morgan Stanley Smith Barney as to the FPL return on equity. I believe this report is on FPL group. You continue to confuse readers with “facts” that aren’t entirely correct. The rate case is on FPL the utility and its rate of return, NOT FPL Group who the analyst usually report on. This mix and max can provide confusing information on how FPL the utility is doing financially . Only the utility is regulated by the PSC.
Does anyone know if the Cuban immigrants who landed at the Turkey Point cooling canals were tested for radioactivity?
Dave and FPLer...
What you fail to understand is fear. What you are doing is what an engineer did to me. He spoke for an hour about the science behind injection wells. They assured me how the water could not move up towards our drinking water because of confining layers etc. They showed me all the geology graphics. It was impressive. However, the water was found to be moving up at Black Point and all their science and intricate explanations didn't explain the facts away.
I look at the NRC website and see listed hundreds of reactor sites...each have 4 to 10 noted occurrence reports. Most of these are human error related. Yes most are white but there were a few serious ones. And you have to admit that removing the triggering devices from two guns at Turkey Point is pretty serious.
You cannot focus on semantics such as whether the top nuclear operator at Turkey Point who resigned after a huge outage because he felt his bosses were demanding an unsafe restart -- is a manager or an operator. It still scared the hell out of all of us.
The fear is, human error might not produce a white event one of these days but an all hell break-loose event. It is not like a doctor cutting off the wrong leg. That effects one person. What a nuke operator error can cause is catastrophic. We all remember Chernobyl. We all remember 3 mile island. It is hard to be reassured in this time of terrorism, especially when something new crops up every few months (sleeping guards) at Turkey Point. A pump not working for two years because it was installed improperly and no one knew? These do not look well to people on the outside looking in. Don't dazzle us with knowledge of reactor engineering. Reassure us on safety.
G.O.D.
I cannot convince you or anyone else not to be afraid. I guess we all have our fears. I don’t fear nuclear power plants. Maybe it’s because I been in both FPL nuc locations. I had unescorted access to both locations. I saw what one needs to go through to get that access; an FBI check, philology test, classroom training and frequent drug testing. I worked with people who took the job, their safety and the public’s safety very seriously.
As for Chernobyl, in my opinion, comparing Chernobyl to the US nuc industry is like comparing a model T to a new 2009 Ford. The reactor was not the type we use here, the values the soviets at the time had on human life was not the same as here. I don’t believe that the same problem could happen here because of the design difference. That’s my believe I’m sure you have yours.
To me 3 mile island was an example of how a problem in a power plant was contained. From what I know no one was injured at the plant or around the plant by the accident. It was by far not an event like a Chernobyl.
I can’t dazzle you with knowledge of reactor engineering because I am not an expert on the topic. To the best of my knowledge no one has perished from a nuclear power plant accident in the US. I would guess that if one would compare deaths per megawatt generated the nuclear power industry would by far have to lowest number over any other method of generation(Solar and wind are too new to be included).
Every little incident is reported to the NRC, reading them out of context could drive you crazy. Trying to understand reactor engineering from the reports is not possible unless you are one.
The operator issue is one that without all the facts one must rely on the NRC to sort out. Like many stories there are at least two sides to the story and the truth probably lies somewhere in between.
To sum it up, I do understand fear, I just do not fear Turkey Point. I know I will not convince you to not fear Nuclear Power Plants but as you and Genius try to sway public opinion please try and get the facts correct and please don’t attack those who try to set the facts straight. To me saying an operator quit vs. a top level manager is a big difference. If the plant manager at turkey point quit over valid safety concerns it might just scare the hell out of me also.
Keep up the good work on local political issues. We will have to agree to disagree on FPL and nuclear issues.
Well, first let me say that the majority of the folks that work at FPL are simply honest and hard working people with families to care for just like the folks who post on this blog. However, the problem lies with management as with most large corporations, management always appears to be in need of calibration on a regular basis. With respect to the FPL rate-case currently under consideration by the PSC, FPL has failed to make a case to justify any rate increase. In fact, the PSC should order FPL to lower its base rate for electric power.
With regard to FPL's ill founded intentions to construct two more nuclear power plants - well, Florida does not need any more nuclear power plants. Instead, FPL should spend the 18 to 24 billions dollars ear-marked for the two nuclear plants on a renewable energy project to finance lease-to-own solar energy systems for homes and businesses. This approach would save our environment from the devastating harm of high-level nuclear waste storage and the like. Moreover, since FPL has 4.5-million customers, if the majority of these customers were to employ solar power, FPL would have to actually shut-down power plants. Think about that for a moment.
Finally, the circus at the recent PSC rate hearings and the blackberry pin messaging mess, and so on - clearly under-cut any credibility that FPL executive management thought they had prior to the rate case. Clearly, the PSC should ORDER FPL to lower its base rate for electric power and ORDER FPL to refund 5-million dollars in costs and expenses charged to the customers as a result of FPL's rate case.
The future of Florida and the United States Energy Policy and National Security remains with renewable energy systems like solar power and wind power systems installed on individual homes and businesses and tied to the common electric grid. Did you know that the Florida legislature passed a net-metering law last summer requiring FPL to buy back excess power from homeowners who install solar power on their homes?
See, http://renewableelectricsystems.com
Thomas Saporito
Jupiter, Florida
what I found frightening is the simple invasion of the cooling canals by those 30 illegal immigrants. THAT is scary.
They called to get themselves rescued? Oh please, 6 miles from the plant? How hard is it to see on a map that the plant is not 6 miles away from the cooling canals... maybe at one point it is, but give us a break that is a heck of a short walk to do some bad stuff if one was inclined. They were 8 hours on the site and that is NOT still in the news?
Critiques of FPL the company aren't a reflection on the people who work for the company.
My issues have been with the dishonesty of the public "debate" by FPL execs. Only FPL would claim that your electric bill will go down by raising your rates. Repeatedly, Armando Olivera has printed ridiculous ads in the Miami Herald claiming such nonsense. You don't have to follow the PSC or know the laws that govern energy companies to know this isn't true. Just look back in history a bit.
FPL is betting that the requested base rate would be accepted by the public by simultaneously dropping the fuel charge (the other half of your energy bill) to mask the increase. The thing is, the base rate change is permanent. The fuel charge floats with the price of oil and gas. The 2004 and 2005 hurricane seasons rocked Florida with crisscrossing storms and major pipeline disruptions (plus hedge fund traders juking the spot market for crude and nat-gas) that caused the price of fuel to spiral. At that time FPL asked for more than 15% hikes in our bills to recover the cost - which in their defense is actually a true "pass-through" cost. They initially got 8% with another big hike to kick in the next year. Consumer groups intervened the next year to cancel the second installment and made FPL give back a point because fuel prices had crashed back to earth.
So in the context of this "debate" FPL cannot say they have control over this portion of your bill and without a doubt will be back to the PSC to recover any loss over the price of fuel assuming it continues on the current trajectory. They were just hoping it would be after the head-fake with the public. If it wasn't for the PR disaster with the text messaging, it probably would have worked.
That's the dishonest debate that pervades other aspects and prevents me from believing much of anything the utility says.
FPL’s problems start at the top with their current executive management team; these executives have no intention of running a regulated utility. Their continuing mission is to retain the monopolistic power that FPL enjoys without having to abide by the existing regulatory compact that comes with such power – the “new regulatory paradigm”. FPL executives Hay, Pimentel, Olivera, Silagy, Tancer, Fitzpatrick and Robo, enabled by many politicians will continue to work towards creating this “new regulatory paradigm”. Stay tuned for the next Tallahassee legislative session to see this new paradigm come to fruition.
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