Legislature approves climate-change energy reforms

By RUSSELL RAY
Media General News Service
Published: May 1, 2008

TALLAHASSEE — The way electric utilities generate power and retailers sell gasoline in Florida would change under a comprehensive energy bill the Florida Senate approved Wednesday in an effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

The bill, which cleared the House on Tuesday, was sent to Gov. Charlie Crist, who is expected to sign the bill into law. It would codify many of the climate-friendly reforms in executive orders Crist signed last summer at a summit on climate change.

Among other things, the bill would require all gasoline sold in Florida to contain 10 percent ethanol, a cleaner burning fuel made primarily from corn, by the end of 2010. It would also require the state’s electric utilities to produce a certain percentage of their power from renewable energy sources and would lead to a 50 percent increase in energy efficiency through better building codes.

The bill’s passage “signifies a commitment to protecting Florida’s natural beauty and stimulating our economy, as well as reducing our dependence on foreign sources of oil,” Crist said in a statement.

The governor’s plan was modeled largely after California’s energy plan, which drew criticisms from House and Senate lawmakers. The bill was amended to prohibit state regulators from adopting California’s strict standards for reducing tail-pipe emissions from new cars and light trucks.

The change “really weakens what we were attempting to do in our legislation,” said Sen. Nan Rich, D-Weston.

The California energy plan calls for a 34 percent reduction in emissions from new cars and a 25 percent emissions reduction from new light trucks by 2015.

But prohibiting Florida from adopting California’s emission standards was the right move because California’s standards would do little to improve air quality and lead to a significant increase in the price of new cars and light trucks, argued Sen. Bill Posey, R-Rockledge.

“It will result in higher consumer costs for automobiles and light trucks sold in Florida — $1,500 to $3,500 per vehicle is the estimate,” Posey said. “It will likely limit the availability of trucks and automobiles capable of towing and carrying heavier loads.”

The bill’s Senate sponsor, Sen. Burt Saunders of Naples, said Crist was OK with the change even though it would limit the state’s ability to lower tail-pipe emissions.

“This is an issue I’m sure the Legislature is going to be debating down the road in the future,” Saunders said.

Under the bill, state regulators would require electric utilities to produce a certain, as yet unspecified, percentage of their power from renewable energy sources, a measure that could lead to higher electricity rates because renewable power is generally more expensive than power made from coal and natural gas. Crist prefers a 20 percent standard for renewable power, the same standard adopted by California.

Saunders said the renewable standard state regulators recommend would require legislative approval. The Legislature, he said, won’t adopt a standard that would cause electric bills to rise. .
“We made sure this legislation will not result in an increase in utility rates,” he said.

The bill also allows utilities to construct large transmission lines across state-protected lands and cuts the time needed to take a person’s property through eminent domain, a measure to help utilities avoid delays in the construction of new transmission lines.

“We’re not impacting the right of the landowner to be fully compensated,” Saunders said. “We’re trying to shorten the time a little bit so that we can site these power lines more quickly.”
Tampa Electric and St. Petersburg-based Progress Energy Florida are planning to build hundreds of miles of new transmission lines in and around the Tampa Bay area, projects the legislation is designed to help.

What’s more, the bill would allow utilities early recovery of costs to build transmission lines for new nuclear power plants. Normally, those costs are recovered once the project is completed. Under the bill, those costs can be recovered as the power lines are built.

Encouraging the construction of new nuclear plants is not good policy because of the high cost of construction and the potential hazards related to the storage of nuclear waste, said Melissa Meehan, a spokeswoman for the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy.

“We think efficiency, conservation and renewables are better options,” Meehan said. “These are things that reduce demand in the first place.

“The average person in California consumes about half of the amount of electricity that the average person in Florida does.”

RUSSELL RAY is a staff writer for The Tampa Tribune