Monday, November 16, 2015

Pam Bondi sides with polluters, highly effective TV ad says ... by gimleteye

Former New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg is investing millions of dollars in TV ads attacking attorney generals in swing states like Florida, where the big utilities favorite shill, Pam Bondi, is suddenly in the spotlight.

Bloomberg has taken on global warming and, in particular, carbon pollution as a major focus of his giving. His investment in Sierra Club's Beyond Coal campaign -- more than $60 million to date -- has been the single most effective strategy to remove polluting coal power plants from the American landscape.

But Florida's big utilities don't like anyone telling them what to do with their profit model. Their top shareholders and executives maintain a rigid grip of energy policy in the state, where picking economic winners and losers is just plain GOP politics as usual. So it was no surprise to watch, during the broadcast of one NFL game last night, that FPL bought the ad time right after the attack ad on Bondi. FPL's point: the corporation cares about families by keeping electric rates low.

Bullshit. Global warming is threatening the stability of families right now even though the worst costs have not yet manifested. Just like Exxon -- whose scientists thirty years ago warned top executives about the contribution of C02 to rapid climate change -- FPL has a strategic plan to misdirect Floridians for as long as their top executives and shareholders can continue to profit. Bondi, Agriculture Secretary Adam Putnam and Gov. Rick Scott will use the Bloomberg attack ad to raise millions of political dollars from the big utilities and their stand-ins.

If you didn't see it in last night's ad, watch it here. For Florida voters, there will be a time to shine: November 2016 is on the horizon.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

I was very happy to see that ad on Sunday morning tv. It's very basic, but straight to the point.

Anonymous said...

Bondi should stick to giving a way stray dogs at public meetings of the Florida Cabinet. It's what she does best.

David said...

FPL doesn't operate a single coal fired plant so it's oil, natural gas and nuclear. Nextera is also the largest wind producer in the United States which I have never heard you mention, not one time. That's not to say they don't operate in the interest of their shareholders, they do. Just be fair and stop misleading by omission. By the way, what is your brilliant alternative for base-load generation fuel. One that's commercially viable, I mean.

cyndi said...

Love this commercial!

Anonymous said...

David -- where are you getting your facts from that "FPL doesn't operate a single coal-fired plant?" What about the 643 MW of coal-fired capacity at Scherer or the 254 MW at St. John's River Power Park. Or the coal-fired, firm capacity purchases from Cedar Bay (250 MW), or Indiantown Cogen's coal (330 MW) or the Southern Company UPS coal (928 MW) or the 382 MW of coal at SJRPP? That's over 3,000 firm reasons (3,087 MW to be exact)-- why FP&L has prodded Bondi to intervene in this legal proceeding. This is about profits.