By Trimmel Gomes, Florida News Connection
Although some Florida utilities tout clean energy commitments, a new report reveals what organizers call the “Dirty Truth” about their claims.
The Sierra Club’s report grades 75 utilities on their plans to cut coal and gas. Most Florida utilities scored poorly, with only a couple, like Orlando Utilities Commission, earning a B.
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Susanna Randolph, director of the Florida chapter of the Sierra Club, said the state’s providers are behind the curve.
"We are seeing that the Florida utilities are overall pretty slow to move off of fossil fuels," Randolph reported. "They’re slow to shut down or retire or make a plan for retirement for coal plants in particular that cause climate change, one of the biggest fuelers of climate change."
Florida lawmakers recently repealed the state's long-standing renewable-energy goals, arguing they were no longer needed. The report singles out Duke Energy Florida for continuing to operate a coal plant in Crystal River, Jacksonville Electric Authority for recently approving a new combined-cycle gas plant, and TECO for its coal reliance.
Randolph explained that the continued operation of coal plants poses a direct threat to Florida, a state uniquely vulnerable to climate impacts.
"We’ve got to get those coal plants retired by 2030 if we’re going to have any kind of hope of keeping the door shut on the worst effects of climate change," Randolph contended. "In a peninsular state like Florida, that is critical because we see right now more severe storms, sea-level rise, sunny-day flooding happening in places like Miami Beach."
Randolph argued that with the affordability of solar and battery storage, utilities have better options than fossil fuels.
