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Sleight of Hand: Florida’s Magician Governor Rick Scott

October 5, 2018 DReynolds

I love a good magic show and have been fooled by some of the best. When street magician extraordinaire David Blaine made ¾ of a deck of cards disappear in front of my eyes just prior his show here in Miami last year, I was stunned. By any measure, David is an amazing artist and makes his craft look, well, like real magic.

But as wonderful as he is, you know that he’s an expert at deception, at sleight of hand, of making uncomfortable, often impossible things appear normal. Right before your eyes.

The longer I follow Florida’s Governor Rick Scott the more I become convinced that he’s also a world class necromancer, a magician of sorts (apologies to real magicians). In fact, David Blaine has nothing on our Governor and if you were to wonder why I think this, you need only to consider a few of the tricks he’s pulled on Floridians and our environment in recent years.

Alakazam: Making “Climate Change” Disappear

Houdini would blush at how Governor Rick Scott made our climate crisis and phrases like “climate change”, “sea level rise” and “global warming” disappear from state records and reports during his terms in office as was widely reported in the media and press (click here to learn more).

Rather than deal with the issue in a direct, decent way, the Governor has insisted that those who work for him should avoid using these terms and others as if the problem does not exist. You can learn more about his tricks and even see him perform by watching the short video produced by Ahead of the Tide entitled Chapter Three: The Political Climate.

The Amazing Power Plant Vote Vanish

Conjurer, I mean Governor, Scott pulled an especially big rabbit out of his hat in Broward County last month by making a long-expected vote in support of a gigantic new power plant disappear. Scott’s largest corporate donor (giving a reported $ 500,000 to his U.S. Senate campaign), Next Era Energy’s Florida Power & Light (FPL) plans to build the new power plant in Dania, a facility it describes as world class. Unfortunately, we’ve also learned that the planned “Dania Beach Clean Energy Center” plant will produce a “net increase from some pollutants”.

The Governor did not, of course, use his magic to require his friends at FPL make the pollution disappear. Doing that would have been rude considering the price they’ve paid ($ 500,000) for tickets to his “show”.

No, what he did was postpone the long-planned September 11th hearing to approve the plant until after the upcoming election, likely deciding it better that news of the plant, its vote, his support and especially the news that it will actually increase pollution disappear until after the polls close. It’s like watching that age-old trick where the magician asks you to find where the ball is hidden under a set of cups, reliant upon the notion that the hand is quicker than the eye.

Florida’s Climate Change Litigation Levitation

And that leads me to this week’s long planned legal Hearing in Tallahassee for the climate change lawsuit that seven other Florida children and I have brought against the State, our Governor and others. We filed our case (Reynolds v. State of Florida) in April (you can read about it here).

Late Monday, just three days before the October 4th Hearing and many months after the Judge was assigned the case, Judge Cooper announced that he was recusing himself due to a conflict of interest, turning the case back over to the Chief Justice and, thus, requiring that a new Judge and Hearing date be set. You can read about the Judge’s recent decision in the article from Politico below:

Key hearing in climate change lawsuit delayed after judge steps aside

By Bruce Ritchie

10/01/2018 05:49 PM EDT

A state judge today removed himself from a lawsuit challenging Florida’s inaction on climate change, indefinitely delaying a key hearing that had been scheduled for Thursday.

Circuit Court Judge John C. Cooper, in an order recusing himself from the case, said he had a conflict of interest and asked the chief judge to assign one of his colleagues to the matter.

Cooper provided no details about led to the decision and did not respond to requests for comment. He had scheduled the Thursday hearing to consider the state’s motion to dismiss the case.

The lawsuit, filed in April, alleges state officials ignored a constitutional policy requiring Florida “to conserve and protect its natural resources and scenic beauty.”

Briefs filed in July on behalf of Gov. Rick Scott several state agencies argue the state constitution is not self-executing and that the court is being asked to involve itself in policy decisions and executive branch functions.

The lawsuit was filed by eight Florida residents ranging in age from 10 to 20 and is supported by the Oregon-based nonprofit Our Children’s Trust, which has been involved in similar lawsuits in other states.

A copy of Cooper’s request can be viewed by clicking here.

The immediate reaction by many was to ask whether the Governor and politics have played a role in this surprise news just days before the Hearing. Lawyers tell me this type of decision this close to a planned Hearing is unusual but not unprecedented. And, of course, there is supposed to be a separation between our Executive and Judicial branches of government but the recent Supreme Court deliberations in Washington illustrate that that politics and the courts interact in strange and mysterious ways.

Whether the Governor performed some sort of sleight of hand to not face our concerns (and us) just before the election, I can’t say, but as a well-known climate change denier and someone who has spent two terms avoiding the topic he’s likely not unhappy with the news. Having to publicly answer tough questions about his total lack of action on an issue impacting millions of Floridians, one that local communities are already spending hundreds of millions of dollars on to mitigate could and should hurt his chances on November 6th, so the postponement could be seen as welcome news the same way delaying the polluting power plant vote might help.

Political hocus pocus?

Perhaps.

But you can rest assured that our Hearing will be rescheduled and that we will have our day, likely many days, in Court. My young friends and I are resilient, we will NEVER give up until we solve the climate crisis and our society shifts to sustainable energy solutions. Doing that will not require magic but hard work and perseverance to break through established politics and special interests.

Until then, please keep in mind that the real magic this Fall takes place in the voting booth where the Governor can be made to vanish from office and, I hope, disappear from politics all together faster than you can say Sim Sala Bim. The magic wand to make that happen is in your hands and appears on November 6th. I sure hope you use it wisely. Florida’s future depends on it.

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Of Course They Knew

April 7, 2018 DReynolds

We owe thanks to Jelmer Mommers, a Dutch journalist who has uncovered Shell Oil Company reports dating to the 1980’s that prove that this global fossil fuel petrol company has known for many decades that their products are destroying our planet, warming its climate and causing seas to rise.

From Shell’s 1988 report aptly entitled “The Greenhouse Effect”:

“by the time global warming becomes detectable it could be too late to take effective countermeasures to reduce the effects or even to stabilize the situation.”

They knew.

Shell concluded that as of 1988 their company was generating 4% of world-wide carbon-dioxide emissions from the products it produces: oil, natural gas and coal.

They knew.

And as has happened, the 1988 report, which can be found here, correctly predicted that by the late 20^th or early 21^st century scientists would be able to conclude that our climate’s severe warming was, you guessed it, caused by these products and the carbon dioxide they emit into our atmosphere and oceans.

And what did they do armed with “The Greenhouse Effect report”? They covered it up, of course. For another decade they were a member of something called the Global Climate Coalition, a trade group whose purpose was to deceive the public by producing propaganda that attempted to question or discredit the scientific truth, the truth that their own experts had provided to their company leadership in that 1988 report. Talk about crimes against humanity.

They knew.

Their own report concluded that as of 1981, 99% of carbon-dioxide emitted into our atmosphere came from the products that Shell and their competitors produce. From their own report:

44% of carbon-dioxide emissions came from oil,

38% from coal and

17% from natural gas.

Their report also includes an analysis about the impact of a warming climate including sea level rise, acidification and the impact of rising temperatures on people including how this will force us to migrate to other places as our environment is destroyed by their products. It even suggests strategies to deal with the problem including a recommendation that they take political action as soon as possible and not wait for more people to see more obvious changes in our climate such as those they predicted would be apparent (and is now evident) in the decades after the report.

They knew.

In fact, they have all known for decades that the products they make and humans pay for and use are destroying earth’s environment and warming our climate to catastrophic levels. And one can conclude that they covered it up time and time and time again because it’s bad for business to have the public know you are destroying the only planet we have, and along with that our children’s future.

And when I say “they” I don’t, of course, mean only Shell (Royal Dutch Shell) but every large and small oil company and nation including EXXON, Chevron, Valero, Marathon, Conoco, BP and every other maker and distributor of fossil fuel products. Saudi’s Aramco, China’s Sinopec, National Petro Corp and Petro China, Brazil’s Petrobras and on and on.

Every car manufacturer knows the truth too and yet they are successfully lobbying our President and his EPA Director RIGHT NOW to relax emissions rules so they can keep selling the products that emit the pollution for as long as possible.

And every utility company knows too. They can run all of the “slick” ads they like about how low their rates are or how much they love solar but they are not being honest with you. As I have mentioned here before, our own local utility, FP&L, produces less than half of 1% of its energy from solar and that’s because they would rather use coal, natural gas and nuclear energy over the last nearly 100 years they’ve been in business instead of robustly investing in sustainable solutions like the widespread use of solar power.

And you know who else knows and actively plays along in the cover-up and lying game? Politicians such as Florida’s Governor Rick Scott, U.S. Senator Marco Rubio, EPA Director Scott Pruitt, and, of course, U.S. President Donald Trump. They and the others that protect and perpetuate the fossil fuel firms like Shell and the products that emit the pollution, the established utilities, car makers and the rest, all know.

Of course they knew, they all did. “The Greenhouse Effect” report only adds to the growing pile of irrefutable scientific evidence and facts that prove carbon-dioxide from fossil fuel products has most certainly caused our global climate crisis. Anyone that suggests otherwise, that these products are not warming our planet to disastrous levels, is wasting our time. Time we simply don’t have to waste.

The question is now that we know, what are the rest of us going to do to fix the problem before it’s too late?

To learn more about “The Greenhouse Effect” please click here for an excellent article from The Washington Post by Steven Mufson and Chris Mooney.

#BeInconvenient, #MyOceanPledge, #SaveMiami, Aramco, BP, Chevron, Climate Change, Conoco, Delaney Reynolds, Donald Trump, Eco Warrior, EPA, EXXON, FP&Lies, FPL, Global Warming, Marathon, Marco Rubio, Miami, Miamisearise.com, National Petro Corp, Petro China, Petrobas, Politics, Rick Scott, Royal Dutch Shell, Scott Pruitt, Sea Level Rise, Sea Rise, Shell, Sinopec, The Greenhouse Effect, The Sink or Swim Project, Valero

The Solar City of South Miami

May 24, 2017 DReynolds

Let the sunshine,

let the sun shine in,

the sun shine in

Aquarius/Let The Sunshine In

By 5th Dimension

Something spectacular and very important happened last week at the City of South Miami’s May commission meeting and we all owe Mayor Stoddard and the visionary commission a debt of gratitude for helping lead Florida into a sustainable future.

Early last year I learned that the City of San Francisco had become the third municipality in California to enact an Ordinance requiring solar power to be installed in new construction, as well as significant renovations. San Francisco’s law (click here for a copy of their Ordinance) intrigued me and led me to write several local mayors a letter requesting that they consider implementing a similar law in their municipality. An example of one such letter, in this case to the Village of Palmetto Bay, following a lecture that I gave to a business group there at which its mayor was in attendance, is displayed below.

I’m happy to report that Mayor Stoddard eagerly responded. As a first step he asked me to find everything possible related to the cities in California that had a similar law and promised that we would work together to draft our own version for his city.

Our first meeting lasted nearly six hours, but it also laid the foundation of the Ordinance the South Miami City Commission passed with a 5-0 vote upon its first reading last week (Click here for the draft of the ordinance). Such a law holds the promise of having South Miami lead the State of Florida into our sustainable future and turning the Sunshine State into my dream that we one day become THE Solar State. I attended the South Miami Commission meeting and during the Public Comments portion of the meeting spoke in favor of the Ordinance and the benefits of solar power. You can watch my presentation in the video below:

Later in the evening when it was time for the commission to discuss and debate the Ordinance, Mayor Stoddard explained its history and the work that we had done together over the past year. To watch Mayor Stoddard discuss the Ordinance, as well as to see what just might turn out to be a historic vote, press play below:

Experts predict that 50% of Florida’s energy can be derived from solar power by the year 2045 if our State begins to get serious about this clean, abundant energy source. Sadly, Florida ranks 14th in the amount of energy we produce from solar power, but the good news is we rank 3rd in our potential to generate power from the sun.

At a time that our State and Country should be dramatically increasing its sustainable use such as solar power, these rankings are a bit discouraging, but not surprising. They are not surprising here in South Florida when one considers that after 92 years of being in business, our local energy monopoly, Florida Power & Light, derives less than 1% of its energy from solar power. Lately FP&L seems to enjoy touting its “dedication to solar power” in its advertising, but facts are facts and their own annual report concludes solar power produces less than 1% of the energy that they generate. Simply stated, FP&L is not committed to sustainable power.

I believe that the time has come to change things. 92 years is far too long to do so little and I think that the days where everyone must obtain their power from one source, from a monopoly, should soon come to an end. A reliance on fossil fuels and of old technologies is destroying our planet and that 1% figure screams that these established businesses are all too happy with the way things are.

When it comes to solar, there is lots of good news and it’s not just in South Miami. At a time when electricity prices are on the rise and our local power company (FP&L) has charged its customers nearly 300 million dollars for a nuclear power facility that may never be built or be many decades off into the future, the cost of solar power has dropped significantly as the chart below illustrates.

The cost of solar power has decreased over 99% since 1977 and is today the least expensive source of energy in America. Now, all we have to do is implement solar power everywhere and let the sun do the rest.

South Miami is certainly doing its part and that process is to continue next with a review of the Ordinance by the Planning Board, followed by a second reading of the proposed new law by the City Commission later this summer, where they will have the opportunity to make history in Florida and in the United States.

Thanks to Mayor Stoddard and the entire City Commission for their leadership. I also want to thank the City Manager, as well as the City Attorney for their hard work in helping polish our earlier draft, as well as my dreams.

Let me end today’s blog with a challenge. If you have read what we are doing in the City of South Miami, then I want to encourage you, challenge you, to work in your own community to create a similar law. Our country faces many challenges in evolving from a fossil fuel economy to a sustainable one but, if we are to ever make that transition, I believe the solutions will most certainly begin in our local communities, including yours. Within this blog, you have the tools that you need including samples of the existing laws, the newly proposed one, even the letter that I wrote that started it all.

So, I implore you to approach your own local leaders and ask them to help you change the world for the better.