Posted by Wayne Garcia on Jul. 24, 2009, at 5:30 am
Florida, in light orange-yellow on the Dept of Energy map, above, joins some other states without renewable portfolio standards to require renewable energy production.
By Rick Kriseman CL Green Community
Cross-posted from the Daily Loaf.
We are long overdue for a renewable portfolio standard (RPS) in this state (a regulation that requires the increased production of energy from renewable energy sources, such as wind, solar, biomass, and geothermal). According to the Pew Center on Global Climate Change, we are not only the most populous state without one, but we are joined by the likes of Alabama, Mississippi, and several other states not known for their progressive agendas.
In 2008, Gov. Charlie Crist signed legislation which required the Public Service Commission (PSC) to develop a renewable portfolio standard by February 1, 2009, which then had to be adopted by the legislature before being implemented. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by Wayne Garcia on Apr. 27, 2009, at 6:40 am
Here’s a good review from the Tallahassee Democrat of just how the petroleum industry and its lobbyists sprung their 11th-hour surprise to end a 20-year ban on offshore oil drilling on the House of Representatives.
With a little less than an hour’s discussion, and a quick, mostly party-line vote, every conservationist’s worst nightmare was headed for the House floor. The House gave preliminary approval on Friday.
“This is like a Carl Hiaasen novel,” laments Janet Bowman, a lobbyist for the Nature Conservancy.
But unlike the colorful characters who scheme to sell out Florida’s natural wonders in Hiaasen’s works of fiction, the supporters are very real. Their ranks also include some respected names, including Martha Barnett, a former president of the American Bar Association.
Former House Speaker John Thrasher, a lobbyist who is also pushing the measure, smiles broadly and praises Cannon’s master stroke.
“He’s a rising star,” Thrasher said. “We needed to look at this, not just pull it out and have everyone just say no. It’s been amazing to see the pent-up energy for this.”
The Obama administration on Tuesday overturned another Bush-era energy policy, announcing it was setting aside a draft plan to allow drilling off the Atlantic and Pacific coasts.
“To establish an orderly process that allows us to make wise decisions based on sound information, we need to set aside” the plan “and create our own timeline,” Interior Secretary Ken Salazar announced in a statement.
Alleging that the Bush administration “had torpedoed” offshore renewable energy, Salazar said he was extending the public comment period by 6 months and ordering his experts to compile a report on the Outer Continental Shelf’s energy potential – not just oil and natural gas, but also renewables like wind and wave energy.
Posted by Wayne Garcia on Dec. 5, 2008, at 9:49 am
The 5-2 vote by the Tampa City Council yesterday is likely the right legal move. It is, however, the wrong political move.
The council approved a 25-year franchise agreement with Tampa Electric that gives the utility the right to use city-owned rights of way to string its power lines in return for paying millions into Tampa’s yearly budget. I wrote about the effort to slow the contract down and push for more conservation, a move away from burning coal and other green concessions from Tampa Electric by activists and Councilwoman Linda Saul-Sena but acknowledged it was likely tilting at windmills. State law is stacked against locals, because it gives the authority over such power-generating and conservation matters to the state’s toothless Public Service Commission.
Still, it would have been a wise political move to, at least, make the franchise deal a 10-year pact to see if Tampa Electric keeps its promise to work in a new green task force that Mayor Pam Iorio wants to form. By keeping the agreement at 25 years, the city lost any leverage it has with the utility. That is bad public policy and shortsighted on the part of the mayor and the council members who voted for the pact. They are Thomas Scott, Gwen Miller, Joseph Caetano, Mary Mulhern and Charlie Miranda.
The good guys: Council members Saul-Sena and John Dingfelder, who voted no.
Posted by Wayne Garcia on May. 1, 2008, at 3:41 pm
Jabberwonk has weighed in with a great tool as we debate the usefulness of a summertime gas tax holiday: the Gas Tax Holiday Calculator.
By plugging in how much I drive a week, I find that the plan being supported by both John McCain and Hillary Clinton (but not Barack Obama) would save me a measly $39.21 in my Dodge pickup. That includes a 1,600-mile college campus trek over the summer I plan with my teenager.
$39.21. Just about enough for one full loaf of bread.
Doesn’t hardly seem enough money to make it worth doing, given the resulting transportation projects that those dollars would pay for instead.
How much would you save, and is it worth it? Or should we maybe, oh, get a real viable energy policy in the U.S.
Jabberwonk has weighed in with a great tool as we debate the usefulness of a summertime gas tax holiday: the 
