Editorials

Published June 22nd, 2008

Erroneous Energy

Solar energy has always been a theoretical alternative energy source.  In fact, earlier this year a Boca Raton Republican Club speaker offered a really big idea -- literally.

Former State Representative Bill Andrews, a now self-appointed czar of alternative (anything but oil) energy, told GOP club members that the US -- which imports $400 billion worth of oil each year -- should cover the Western US desert with (and now 30 percent efficient) solar panels -- thus to supply that half of the country with electricity, and thus dramatically reducing US dependence on foreign oil.

And who's going to tell everyone to leave most Nevada, and Wyoming  -- the amount of land necessary to realistially accomplish this idea?  More to the point, who should fund this desert energy enclave?

Andrews said nothing about how the land would be obtained, but John and Suzy Q. Public would provide the funding, according to Andrews. 

“The private sector is good to help,” Andrews told the 50 plus GOP club members, “but it can’t be the lead dog because there’s not enough venture capital to do it.”

Closer to home, Florida Power and Light (FPL) is seeking state approval to build large solar panel power plants in neighboring Martin and other counties -- the one in Martin being a 75-megawatt plant.

FPL is in turn asking the Public Service Commission for permission to recoup the estimated $588 million cost of solar plant construction by increasing customer bills. FPL does this while acknowledging that -- and at 75-megawatts -- the Martin County plant would generate far less power than more conventional power plants.

At the same time, the new natural-gas plant FPL wants to build in Riviera Beach would produce 1,250 megawatts of electricity -- enough to power 250,000 homes and businesses. 

And further south, the Calypso LNG Deepwater Port (DWP) is being developed by SUEZ Energy North America’s subsidiary, Calypso LNG.  The project would be located approximately 8 to 10 miles offshore of Broward County northeast of Port Everglades, and would provide South Florida with a much-needed new supply of clean natural gas.

According to the project’s Environmental Impact Statement, “the deepwater port facility will in turn connect to an undersea pipeline and will have the capacity to deliver over 1 billion cubic feet per day of natural gas, the equivalent of approximately 25 percent of Florida’s peak demand for natural gas on a hot summer day, to an onshore interconnect in Florida.”

Twenty five percent of the entire state -- not a small percentage of just one small county as would be the FPL solar panel plant.

This new source of natural gas would used to power Florida’s power plants; it’s less vulnerable to hurricanes, improving electricity service reliability during and after storms. 

Still, and even though the costs to produce, and the environmental costs, are astronomical, we seem hell-bent on pursing ethanol from corn -- and now it would seem also hell-bent on equally inefficient large-scale solar production.

Here’s a thought: perhaps Tri-Rail could be used to haul the corn.  There’s certainly enough room on the pathetically overbuilt, oversold, massively subsidized -- but nonetheless underutilized commuter rail line for both corn and passengers. 

Constitutional Amendment 4 on the general election ballot this November would create incentives for landowners to set aside land for conservation easements or practice proactive conservation to benefit wildlife. If 60 percent of voters approve the amendment, it will become part of the Florida State Constitution.

The resolution notes that Florida’s population may double to 36 million people within the next 50 years. It says development will claim millions of acres of wilderness and erode the state’s  outdoor recreation legacy if officials fail to address growth projections with wise and creative solutions.

“…It is beyond the means of the government of the Great State of Florida to purchase all the natural lands that stand to be lost to development in the years to come,” the resolution reads. “(Amendment 4)…would offer a meaningful solution to this issue.”

Indeed, it would.

Symbols

Flag Day was observed (or ignored) in Boca Raton this past Saturday, June 14.

Some who fail to understand that the flag is a symbol of patriotism -- but not the measure of patriotism -- observed the day.

And some whose idea of patriotism either has something to do with professional sports or who routinely embrace images at the sacrifice of ideas -- ignored the day.