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STATE: Key Emission Votes Delayed

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By TRAVIS REED, The Associated Press

Published: October 20, 2007

Updated: 10/20/2007 11:12 am

ORLANDO - The Florida Energy Commission on Friday delayed key votes on greenhouse gas reduction, renewable energy and car pollution standards - halted by outcries from utility companies and disagreement among its own members.

The commission must advise the Legislature by January on several energy solutions, from green standards for new buildings to mandating climate and energy science classes in Florida schools and colleges.

Most controversial was a proposal identical to Gov. Charlie Crist's mandate this summer to slash greenhouse gas emissions. The proposal would return pollution to 2000 levels by the year 2017, to 1990 levels by 2025, and 20 percent below 1990 levels by 2050.

The orders do not require approval from the Energy Commission but were included as a measure of support.

Bud Para, spokesman for the Jacksonville Electric Authority, said the 2017 goal was unobtainable. He said more nuclear power plants and renewable sources are already needed just to accommodate the fast-growing state's 1,000-person daily influx.

Para and other utility officials said consumers would have to pay more, and cautioned the Florida board against trying to tackle a 'global problem.'

'It ought to be dealt with on the national and international level,' he said. 'We think that Congress is finally serious about passing serious climate legislation.'

Commissioner John O'Brien, head of an energy consulting company, said the cost argument was dubious. O'Brien said the state would begin to see warming signs by the time the standards took place, and the debate would be different then.

Crist and others have warned that Florida's 1,350 miles of coastline are threatened by a sea level rise from global warming.

'Opinion will change. Economics will change,' O'Brien said. 'When the consequences of adaptation are figured into this, if there is that sort of problem, I don't see a problem because the state of Florida is not going to give up its coastline.'

David Bruderly, an alternative energy engineer who spoke during the public comment period, implored the board not to buckle on the greenhouse cuts.

'It's really hard to change people's attitudes,' Bruderly said.

'We are in a 50-year process. It took us 200 years to get into this situation, and it's going to take us another 50 years to get us out.'

Utilities also opposed a measure requiring them to allow all Florida residents interconnection to the electricity grid, enabling people to produce their own energy and sell it back or get price breaks.

Vehicle emission standards also met staunch opposition, though it was virtually all from Commissioner Bill Cramer, a Panama City auto dealer. The proposed standards on cars and light-duty trucks aim to reduce global warming pollution from new vehicles almost 30 percent by 2016.

California is seeking federal authorization to implement them, and several other states plan the same if the standards are approved. Traffic accounts for an estimated 40 percent of Florida's greenhouse gas emissions.

The commission will further consider the standards along with greenhouse gas caps and other issues next month.

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