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“Suitable or Unsuitable?” An Update on Florida’s Energy Transition to Renewables

November 3, 2022 DReynolds

If we are to ever solve our climate crisis, a key step will require a total transformation of our global energy system and that starts by eliminating the use of every possible drop of fossil fuel that we consume today. To do that the rule that three friends and I helped motivate the State of Florida to finally publish earlier this year holds the promise of eliminating fossil fuels within our state’s energy system in favor of renewables by 2050 was an important first step. But only that, a first step. With this in mind, I want to update you on the important next steps and the work we’ve been doing over the last few months including an example the challenges we continue to face to fulfil the promise of our new rule.

Before I update you on the latest news, allow me to remind you that in April of this year the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (FDACS) agreed to publish a rule that set a state-wide goal for the State of Florida: reach 100% renewable energy by 2050. The state issued this rule only after the urging of Florida youth, including hundreds of young people from all over Florida who signed a petition for rulemaking asking FDACS to help decrease the use of fossil fuels in the State of Florida, as well as 100% renewable energy use by 2050. As one of the lead petitioners – alongside my friends Valholly Frank, Isaac Augsperg, and Levi Draheim – I am extremely proud that FDACS listened to young peoples’ voices and took action by creating the first piece of climate policy in the State of Florida in over a decade and what some have called the most significant step Florida has ever taken. These are the types of steps that we should be taking nation-wide to shift our economy from one based on fossil fuels to one based on renewable energy. So, thank you again to the young people all over Florida who helped me by using our voices to fight for our environment.

As we consider the next steps it’s important to know the rule’s purpose is to help ensure that something called the Public Service Commission (PSC), Florida’s utility regulatory, enforces the goal by ensuring that Florida utilities create a plan and work towards reaching the 100% renewable energy by 2050 goal. The PSC exercises regulatory authority over utilities in three areas (A) economic regulation of the rates utilities charge consumers; (2) competitive market oversight; and (3) monitoring the utilities safety, reliability, and service.

To say that the PSC plays an important role in enforcing the new role is an understatement. One way it’s envisioned that they will help ensure that utilities meet this goal relates to the fact that every two years Florida utilities must submit what’s known as a Ten-Year Site Plan to the PSC, whose Board then approves or denies the utilities plan based on whether it meets Florida’s regulations and standards.

Now that Florida has approved our new renewable energy rule the PSC should be working with the utilities to commence a planned transition to renewable energy to meet our 2050 goal. Given its important role as Florida’s chief utility regulator, the PSC has become the focus of our work in recent months as we strive to ensure that the Commission upholds its responsibility to Floridians by enforcing this critically important transition. We’ve read all the utilities’ most recent Ten-Year Plans and, not surprisingly, concluded that they do not take the steps needed to utilize 100% renewable energy sources by 2050. We shared those concerns with the PSC in a letter in August and in doing so we requested that the PSC find all the utilities’ site plans as “unsuitable” and therefore not consistent with either Florida’s legal requirements nor the public utilities own announced commitments to increase their use of renewable energy to reach their decarbonization targets. In our August letter we explained:

The PSC’s ten-year site plan review process represents the only long-term energy planning undertaken by the State of Florida. For years, the PSC has routinely found utilities ten-year site plans to be ‘suitable’ even though they are inconsistent with state law and energy policy and have resulted in an energy system that is violating the constitutional rights of Florida youth.

We also explained the following:

The utilities’ 2022 ten-year site plans violate Florida law by, among other deficiencies, facilitating increased natural gas infrastructure and use over this critical period for climate change mitigation opportunity. Although NextEra and Duke Energy have publicly announced emissions reduction plans, their 2022 site plans still forecast significant – and in the case of Duke Energy Florida, increased-natural gas use over the next decade. The PSC cannot continue to find such plans “suitable” that lock in Florida’s reliance on fossil fuels and which are contrary to state law and harmful to the public interest.

And, in addition to our letter we also provided a 16-page document entitled “The PSC’s Suitability Findings Must Comply with State Law & Policy.” That document detailed the historic lack of fuel diversity by the utilities 2022 Ten-Year Site Plans, that their plans do not analyze the environmental impact of the proposed natural gas power plants, that they do not analyze economically and technologically feasible options to continued natural gas dependence, that the utilities 2022 Ten-Year Site Plans are inconsistent with the State Comprehensive Plan, that the Plans violate the Florida Renewable Energy Policy, that the Plans are not consistent with FDACS’ renewable energy goals, that the Plans ignore city and country renewable energy goals, and that the Plans are inconsistent with utilities’ own public plans for decarbonization. As I said, given these concerns we asked the PSC to find the utilities’ 2022 site plans “unsuitable.”

Late last month the PSC’s responded and I want to share their letter with you. Keeping in mind that our energy transformation away from fossil fuels is an essential key to solving our climate crisis it’s terribly important to understand that our society can’t solely rely on the very industries that have been causing and perpetuating the pollution for a century (utilities, auto makers, fossil fuel firms and other such stakeholders) to evolve into our renewable energy future on their own. Governments around the world, including yes right here in Florida, must provide the serious motivation, regulation, and rules for them to achieve what society and our climate deserve.

Unfortunately, the PSC’s initial response does not seem to fully grasp the gravity of our climate crisis, nor its own regulatory role in fixing the problem. Instead, the PSC sees itself as having an “informal” role, believes that its review of the Ten-Year Site Plans by utilities is but an “informal action” and that it’s not up to them to determine whether such a plan is “suitable” or “unsuitable” despite their role as Florida’s utility regulator. Here’s what they wrote my colleague and lawyer from the firm I am working with on this issue, Our Children’s Trust, Andrea Rodgers, in response to our August letter:

PSC page 1

To be clear, the PSC’s initial response does not fully surprise me. The PSC has long been seen as a perhaps too friendly advocate for the utility industry so the idea that they would easily focus on the public’s concern and our new rule and something so important as the crisis we face should not surprise anyone. But, just like our energy providers, our governments must also evolve their thinking if we are ever going to truly evolve from today’s antiquated approach to power to one based on renewable energy. And, here in Florida, that certainly includes the Public Service Commission.

As I have said many times before, we’ve only just begun the hard work related to our new rule and the energy evolution that’s required to save special places all over Florida. The attached PSC response helps make that point and illustrates the types of challenges we will face not only from the utilities themselves, but government officials charged with regulating our energy providers. The good news is that I know I speak for young people all over our State of Florida and the world beyond when I say that we look forward to working to transition regulatory thought at places like the PSC, along with our energy system, before it’s too late.

#AlwaysBelieve, #BeInconvenient, #MyOceanPledge, #RatherBeInCourt, #SaveMiami, Andrea Rodgers, Climate Change, Delaney Reynolds, Department of Agriculture, Eco Warrior, FDACS, Florida, Global Warming, Miami, Miamisearise.com, Nikki Fried, Our Children's Trust, Politics, Sea Level Rise, Sea Rise, The Sink or Swim Project

Misplaced Priorities

September 6, 2022 DReynolds

One of my great fortunes in growing up in South Florida has been reading the Miami Herald from an early age and, thus, being exposed to the brilliant American commentator and novelist Leonard Pitts Jr. Calling Mr. Pitts a Columnist or Opinion Writer somehow seems too shallow for someone so gifted, someone who so frequently makes me think, wonder, and, yes, worry. Each time I think I’ve read his most profound piece he proves me wrong with yet another thought-provoking commentary. Candidly, I think of him more as a poet, someone whose thoughts and words deeply touch my soul while he also serves as a consciousness of our culture.

As ever, Mr. Pitts’ column this weekend proves why I so love and appreciate his Pulitzer Prize winning work. The potable water crisis in Jackson, Mississippi is a tragedy beyond comprehension but was avoidable had the real needs of its residents been a priority for local, state, and our national government. Unfortunately, as happens in places like Jackson (and Miami) all over the planet, impoverished people are too often overlooked, and their needs marginalized, as so-called leaders prioritize politics and profits over public service. Like the water in Jackson, it makes me sick.

In such a wonderful country filled with good people, we should each ask ourselves daily how we could possibly allow our political discourse to go so far astray of what’s important to our lives and what we owe to future generations that follow. By spending so much time on imagined, fictitious threats by pandering to a minority of ill-informed people, we are missing important opportunities to address the real issues of our lifetimes, including a failing American infrastructure and only the most significant threat our planet has ever faced: the man-made climate crisis that’s causing the “freakish weather” Mr. Pitts writes about this weekend.

Can you imagine the problems we collectively could solve if some would stop wasting time propagating fictitious fears about election lies, as just one for example, and went about solving real issues related to our roads, water, sewer systems, and, yes, our warming climate? Think about it. Telling a minority of Americans what they want to hear rather than the truth fills our minds and media with mind numbing trash and that is shameful. Far too many elected leaders or candidates for office this year are still propagating a lie that the 2020 election was stolen when something like 60 or so courts, many of them with judges seated by our former President himself, have ruled that our current President was legally and democratically elected. The suggestion otherwise is a colossal waste of time, but it is also a tactic that many increasingly believe threatens our very democracy, much less something so seemingly simple as ensuring that our citizens have water.

If you have not read Mr. Pitts regularly in the past, I can’t think of a better place to start than with his thoughts on “misplaced priorities” this weekend. It’s a bit about water in Jackson but more so about much deeper things that each of us must consider as we decide what our legacy will be during our lifetimes here on earth.

Good luck getting a glass of water in Jackson

When it came to making sure 150,000 people had water to drink, Mississippi had more important things to do. But then, poor and/or dark-skinned people are often taken for granted.

There is no water in Jackson, Mississippi.

Not at this writing, at least. At this writing, the nearly 150,000 residents of the state capital have been advised that even if they are able to coax some of the precious liquid from their taps — water pressure is feeble — it is unsafe for drinking, bathing, or washing dishes.

Note, please, that they were already under a boil-water order — the latest in a series. Then heavy rains and flooding overwhelmed the primary water treatment plant in a city where some of the pipes date to the days Model Ts still trundled dirt roads and biplanes carved the skies. Gov. Tate Reeves was unable to say in a Monday night briefing when the situation might be rectified.

So there is no water in Jackson.

And Mississippi should be embarrassed. But Mississippi should not be surprised. To the contrary, it has known for many years that the city’s water infrastructure was too old and brittle to serve its needs. They saw the crisis coming, but they did not avert it.

Mind you, because he was concerned about education that “aims to only humiliate and indoctrinate,” the governor did sign a bill making it impossible to teach “critical race theory” in schools.

And because he wanted to “protect young girls,” he did sign a bill barring transgender student athletes from participating in sports that correspond with their gender identity.

And because he grieved “63 million babies” aborted since 1973, he did sign a bill banning almost all abortions.

He acted to avert those “threats.” But good luck getting a glass of water in Jackson.

All that said, this is not really a column about Jackson. Or, for that matter, water. It is, rather, a column about misplaced priorities. That seems a constant theme where people of color and poor people are concerned, so no one will be surprised to hear that eight in 10 Jacksonians are African American, while one in four is poor. Nor should it stun anyone to hear that experts say Jackson’s woes grow from a sediment of white flight and malign neglect. When it came to making sure 150,000 people had water to drink, Mississippi had more important things to do. But then, poor and/or dark-skinned people are often taken for granted.

Poor and/or dark-skinned people are also the ones who often function as the proverbial canary in the coal mine.

Thus, it is worth noting that while white flight and malign neglect are the foundation of this disaster, its proximate cause is simpler: freakish weather broke a decrepit system. And freakish weather, not to put too fine a point on it, is not limited to poor people, Black people, or Jackson. Indeed, climate change having been allowed to reach a state of daily crisis, freakish weather is rapidly becoming normal weather for us all.

One wonders, then, how much longer we can continue misplacing priorities, embracing would-be “leaders” who focus on fighting culture wars, on offering the addictive sugar high of performative thrusts against despised Others — “Take that, critical race theory!” — even as pipes corrode, bridges age, the electrical grid fizzles, sewers clog, roads buckle and weather grows more freakish.

Here’s an idea. How about if we required those who govern to actually govern, i.e., to protect and maintain basic services and quality of life? How about if we valued simple competence over sugar highs? How might that be?

See, there is no water in Jackson. And yes, that’s an embarrassment for Mississippi.

But it’s a warning for us all.

#AlwaysBelieve, #BeInconvenient, #MyOceanPledge, #RatherBeInCourt, #SaveMiami, Climate Change, Delaney Reynolds, Eco Warrior, Global Warming, Leonard Pitts Jr, Miami, Miamisearise.com, Mississippi, Politics, Sea Level Rise, Sea Rise, The Sink or Swim Project

August 9th, 2022: A Historic Day For Florida’s Environment

August 9, 2022 DReynolds

I am pleased to share that earlier today the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services’ (FDACS) renewable energy rule, Chapter 5O-5: Renewable Energy, became effective. This new rule is perhaps the most significant climate policy ever established in Florida history and allows our state to take major steps towards a sustainable future without carbon pollution. The rule sets the following renewable energy goals for Florida’s electric utilities:

At least 40% by 2030,
63% by 2035,
82% by 2040, and
100% by 2050.

These goals and the accompanying requirements were officially proposed in April 2022 by FDACS Commissioner Nikki Fried in response to a petition for rulemaking that three friends of mine and I filed in January 2022. The petition for rulemaking called on FDACS to require “each electric utility that produces or purchases electricity for consumption in the State of Florida” to set and achieve goals to “generate 100% of Florida’s electricity from renewable energy by 2050.” It remains amazing that four young people, two of which can’t yet even vote, had to force the State into enacting these rules, but I am deeply proud of the outcome and all Floridians should be too.

And speaking of pride, allow me to send a shout out to my amazing co-petitioners and long time friends: Valholly, Isaac, and Levi who have been with me, and I with them, every step of the way since 2018 when we sued Governor Rick Scott and more recently Governor DeSantis, as well as more recently pursued the FDACS petition that led to today’s rule. Also allow me to give a very special shout out to the hundreds of Florida youth all over our state that signed on to our petition and had their voices about Florida’s energy future heard loud and clear. To each of you please know that I am SO very proud of you and that you should be proud of the important role you played in helping us make this happen in Florida.

Here’s what my friend and our Senior Litigation Attorney from Our Children’s Trust, Andrea Rogers, had to say about the new rule and today’s news:

“This rule – the strongest climate policy enacted in Florida in over a decade – was only made possible because youth in Florida demanded climate action. Over 200 young Floridians signed the petition for rulemaking to set significant and achievable renewable energy goals, holding their government accountable for its contributions to the climate crisis and demanding meaningful action. Today, thanks to their determined efforts, present and future generations of Floridians are headed toward a safer, more sustainable energy future.”

Andrea’s firm, Our Children’s Trust, and their team deserves tremendous credit for all of their hard work on helping me get this new rule established. Andrea, Mitch, Guy, David, Paul, and the rest of their team also represented and supported me and my three other lead youth petitioners in Reynolds v. State of Florida in 2018. Our Children’s Trust is doing amazing work as evidenced by today’s rule here in Florida, as well as cases all over our planet including Navahine F. v. Hawai’i Department of Transportation, Held v. State of Montana (which, when it proceeds to trial in 2023, will be the first ever children’s climate trial in U.S. history) and, of course, their representation of 21 youth plaintiffs in the landmark federal constitutional climate lawsuit Juliana v. United States, who are awaiting a decision in their case that could also set the stage for trial in 2023 (and whose story can be found on the Netflix documentary Youth v Gov).

Allow me to also sincerely thank Commissioner Fried and her staff including Stephen Sharpe and Shelby Scarpa for their support. Although the framework for today’s rule was established in 2006, it saddens me that for nearly two decades our State’s adult leaders did nothing to actually implement the required rules and that it took a few passionate youth to make the state take action that led to today’s rule, but we are grateful that each of you listened to our concerns. Future Floridians will be forever grateful to you for supporting us.

Our climate fight leaves little time to breathe sighs of relief but today’s news should allow us to all take a deep breath and consider a Florida where everyone can breathe clean air by 2050 as our energy system shifts to sustainable power as a result of today’s new rule. We have much more to do if we are to solve our climate crisis but today’s step here in the Sunshine State places Florida at the forefront of solutions here in the United States and around the world. Congratulations Florida and thank you for allowing me to play a small role in making Florida climate legislation history.

#RatherBeInCourt, Andrea Rogers, Climate Change, Delaney Reynolds, Department of Agriculture, Eco Warrior, FDACS, Florida, Global Warming, Miami, Miamisearise.com, Mitchell Chester, Nikki Fried, Our Children's Trust, Politics, Sea Level Rise, Sea Rise, The Sink or Swim Project, Youth V Gov

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