By Kristi E. Swartz
Palm Beach
Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, January 23, 2007
The superintendent of the Everglades and Dry Tortugas national parks said he
is concerned that a Florida Power & Light Co. coal plant proposed for Glades County
would harm the air quality and hurt the area's threatened or endangered
species.
In a letter to the state's Department of Environmental Protection, Dan
Kimball, superintendent of both national parks, said he needs more information
from FPL to better determine how the plant's emissions could affect the area.
Kimball's letter states that Everglades
National Park already suffers from
widespread mercury contamination of fish and wildlife and says FPL's plant - to
be called Glades Power Park
- would increase that. Eventually those toxins make their way into food that
consumers eat.
The letter, dated Jan. 18, asks FPL to redo its air-quality modeling analysis
and supply more information about emission-control technology.
Kimball's request is a typical part of the review process before any utility
can build a plant, FPL spokeswoman Rachel Scott said Monday. FPL submitted its
plans to the DEP in late December to start what is likely to be a yearlong
review process, with the last stop at the governor's office.
The DEP notified other agencies about the Glades County
plant, and FPL now is meeting with each group.
"If they are requesting additional information, we make sure we respond
and provide them with additional information," Scott said.
FPL, owned by FPL Group Inc. of Juno
Beach, wants to build a
"clean" coal plant on 4,900 acres of sugar cane land near the city of
Moore Haven.
The plant would have two 980-megawatt units, the first of which would open in
2012, and the second in 2013.
FPL officials have touted the plant's advanced coal-pulverization
technology, which they say will remove mercury and particles. Many Moore Haven
residents said they welcome the plant because of the much-needed economic boost
- about $21 million a year to the county's tax base - it would bring to the
area.
But environmental advocates and others argue that if FPL has to build a
coal-burning power plant, it could build something cleaner. State Sen. Mike
Bennett, R-Bradenton, recently told the Senate Committee on Communications and
Public Utilities that he would push the utility to build a gasified-coal plant
instead.
"It's definitely encouraging that they (Everglades National Park)
are asking a lot of questions," said Holly Binns, field director for
Environment Florida.
