Hawaii Rejects FPL's Mother Ship (Parent Company) NEXT ERA, In Part Because of Meager Solar In Florida. By Geniusofdespair

Next Era's (aka Next Error) purchase of Hawaiian Electric Industries -- although  both Next Era and FPL were glowingly endorsed in a letter to Hawaiian Newspapers by two misguided Florida Environmentalists (Eric Draper and Eric Eikenberg) -- was rejected.

In their rejection, Hawaii's Public Service Commission questioned Next Era's:

...Commitment to 100 percent renewable energy, especially in light of its plan to convert power plants to liquefied natural gas and the small amount of rooftop solar in use in Florida.

In my bill, FPL said that .1% of their energy is derived from solar.

Here is the "Erics" stupid letter, that did not fool the Hawaiians for a minute:

South Florida Regional Planning Council No More. By Geniusofdespair

This is a continuation of my blog last week, July 6th.

Commissioner Daniella Levine Cava was there for Miami.

Commissioner Xavier Suarez was on the phone listening. I know because I was texting him.

I haven't been there in years but what a difference a few years make. They are going to a 4 day week and they are no longer the South Florida PLANNING Council. They are now the South Florida Regional Council and here is what they are about in regard to planning according to their website:

Dispute Resolution

The Council's Regional Dispute Resolution Process (RDRP) was adopted in response to the requirements of Chapter 186.509, Florida Statutes. The RDRP is designed to reconcile differences in planning, growth management, and other matters among local governments, regional agencies, and private interests. The RDRP endeavors to be a flexible process that will clearly identify and resolve problems as early as possible; utilize procedures in a low-to-high cost sequence, allow flexibility, provide for the appropriate involvement of affected parties, and provide as much process certainty as possible.

They have been cut off at the knees. I don't know why they meet anymore. Maybe I am too much of a pessimist but why is PLANNING out of their name?

Their job was reviewing Comprehensive Development Master Plans and you could go there to see them. You didn't have to go to the cities or Tallahassee.

Eric Draper

The dreaded Eric Draper form Audubon did a presentation on Amendment 1 and the problems Environmentalists are facing. He did a pretty good job on the need for the money to be spent as we voted for in the Amendment, like the sugar land we had a contract to buy for restoration.

Patricia Asseff from Hollywood (a governor appointee) should get the hell off the Council. She is a pave over Patty and has been on far too long. After Eric Draper spoke she totally missed the point. She said we don't need parks unless we get the money to run them. What about upkeep? -- This isn't about Parks lady. The woman next to her totally agreed with her. Gosh ladies what do you think the people in your cities want? You find the money for upkeep of your parks.

The land was supposed to be environmental land. Thomas Teets of the South Florida Water Management District had just finished saying we need more land for Everglades Restoration. She didn't understand a lick.  I said in comments:  You should all care that your constituents were betrayed that is the issue not upkeep. If you start using money for upkeep you will end up paying for soccer fields and other stuff. That is what they are already doing with the money in Tallahassee-- buying rice farms or something like that. I told them the big picture is that the money is not going towards what we voted for. The issue is not what to do with the land that we spend the money on.

South Florida Regional Council July 6th About 11:00 am. By Geniusofdespair

South Florida Regional (they dropped the word Planning from their name) Council meets July 6th (about 11). They took planning out of the name officially on July 1st.

Interesting discussion item:

Americas' Dream Mall

Program Report and Activities that should interest us all:

Thomas M. Teets

 A. Everglades Restoration Speaker Thomas M. Teets - office of Everglades Policy and coordination for the South Florida Water Management District.
 
B. Amendment 1 - (land buying funds we all voted for) Speaker Eric Draper - Audubon of Florida.

Agenda items of Interest to me

County Commissioners Daniella Levine Cava and Xavier Suarez are Miami Dade Appointees on the Council.

Be there if you can 3440 Hollywood Blvd. Suite 140. It starts at 10:30 but I don't see them getting to the good items till at least an hour later. This is the only State of Florida entity down here. It does a regional review of projects (3 counties participate). There has to be some public comment time although it was not on the agenda. The public hardly ever goes to this monthly meeting. If you want to ask about time call Phone 954-985-4416. I heard the whole meeting is only about two hours.

Worst Environmentalist in Florida: Eric Draper of Audubon. By Geniusofdespair

According to the News-Press: "In the wake of Gov. Rick Scott's controversial hunting trip to a ranch in Texas, environmentalists are questioning the governor's appointment of two men associated with the ranch to the South Florida Water Management District's governing board. One of the state's leading environmental groups, however, defends the appointments. Scott's Feb. 15, 2013, hunting trip to King Ranch, which covers 825,000 acres in Texas, has generated publicity because it was partly paid for by the sugar industry — King Ranch owns 20,000 acres in South Florida, 12,500 acres of which is used for sugar cane."

Let Eric Draper  - Head of Audubon -  know what an idiot he is. Audubon, has become a pseudo environmental group, a shell of itself, since Eric became chief.  Why would he support these stupid pals of Scott, entrusting them with our water supply.

Eric Draper

As he did with DeLisi, Audubon's Draper defended Hutchcraft's appointment.
"I not only supported Mitch: I nominated him," Draper said. "The water district has always had somebody who represents the agriculture community on the governing board. When Joe Collins resigned, we wanted somebody we'd worked with and had confidence in. Mitch really fit that bill.

"We'd worked with him on panther habitat conservation and found him to be really approachable, informed and moderate, as agriculture people go. When I've gone to him as a board member to ask him to vote for something, he's typically voted our way."

Eric is such a loser.   Here is what another environmentalist said about him:

When I started coming to this conference 5 years ago, it was for the explicit purpose of confronting Eric Draper, the motherfucker who sold out the Loxahatchee Refuge to FPL and the rock mining mafia. At the time, Draper was the lobbyist for Florida Audubon Society. Today he’s the Executive Director and President of the group. (For shits and giggles, check out this article about Draper flying around in FPL’s private jets with other lobbyists and politicians.)

Over 100 names were blocked out.

Make an investment in the environment: Give to Sierra Club or Friends of the Everglades. I wouldn't give a penny to Audubon. Even before the ouster of Dr. Mark Kraus, they have been a shell of themselves with Draper at the helm, he hasn't helped one bit. All he does is alienate other environmentalists doing his wacky own agenda that no one else agrees with.

Mark Kraus, Ph.D

Note: Gimleteye may not agree with me on this post.