Tuesday, October 9: Sierra Club's ELP, led by attorneys Julie Kaplan and Diana Csank, is challenging a gas plant that Florida's largest utility (FPL) proposes to build in Dania Beach (near Ft. Lauderdale), focusing on the significant adverse, costly, climate change impacts of building yet more fossil fuel burning plants in Florida. The law tasks Governor Scott and his Cabinet (“the Siting Board”) with deciding whether or not to approve this plant by September 28, 2018 - 60 days after the administrative law judge recommended approving the plant (despite her findings regarding the adverse impacts of climate change, including sea level rise, to which Southeast Florida is particularly vulnerable). Sierra Club filed a brief challenging the recommendation, highlighting the threat of massive climate losses that Southeast Florida faces, that this huge plant and its upstream pipeline and fracking impacts would exacerbate.
After scheduling a public hearing on September 11, in keeping with the September 28 deadline, Governor Scott and his administration decided to delay the public hearing and decision on the massive fossil fuel plant until after the election, until the next cabinet meeting on December 4, 2018. FPL agreed to wait until December 11, 2018 for a final decision from Governor Scott and his cabinet on the plant. These scheduling changes were made without regard for applicable procedural rules.
Their impact, however is clear. Governor Scott has an abysmal record on climate change, including overseeing an historic expansion of Florida’s fracked gas reliance - with 10,412 MW of new gas already coming online, which is the second greatest fossil fuel build-out in Florida’s history, and more than 6,500 additional MW of gas already approved or pending approval. Delaying the decision until early December deprives Floridians from knowing where he stands on yet more fracked gas reliance during an election period. Sierra Club sent a letter objecting to this delay, but has yet to receive a response.
Read the Miami Herald article on the delayed vote here.