BBCAT   EVENTS TO DATE (BRIEF RECAP)


Big Bend Climate Action Team’s Work

with the City, County, and State

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Note: The years 2005-2007 saw momentous changes both in the pace of global warming and in public opinion. The climate was approaching a tipping point, beyond which it might be impossible for humankind to stave off the most severe effects of overheating the globe. At the same time, people who had been blind to, or had resisted, the reality of the climate threat were coming around to admit it and to call for action--another tipping point.

BBCAT formed just as these changes were coming to a head. This narrative of BBCAT's events from June 2005 to the present mirrors similar developments that were happening all over Florida, the nation, and the world. The story continues--and it is as suspenseful as any film or fiction thriller.

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JUNE 2005


BBCAT formed from several other groups interested in climate and energy, formulated its mission, and asked to meet with City Electric planners staff as they began planning to meet the City’s increasing needs for electricity over the next 20 years. Periodic meetings began and have continued ever since.


To publicize the climate crisis, a BBCAT member submitted to the Tallahassee Democrat an opinion piece urging the city and state to become more aware of climate change. Editors said, “Our readers are not interested in climate news,” but published the piece (read). 

Next day, the Democrat announced that an 800-megawatt coal-burning power plant was “coming” to north Florida and was to be located in Perry, in nearby Taylor County. Tallahassee wanted to join the project to obtain 150 megawatts of energy needed in the next 20 years (fact sheet).

BBCAT began advancing the view that our community needed to reduce its use of fossil fuels and begin replacing them with alternative energy resources, notably energy efficiency and renewable fuels.

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Q & A:.

Why avoid fossil fuels? Coal emits the most greenhouse gas (notably carbon dioxide, CO2) of any fuel. Oil is a close second. Natural gas emits about half as much CO2 as coal. How replace fossil fuels? First, implement all possible energy efficiency to reduce demand (demand-side management, or DSM). Energy efficiency is defined as doing more work with the same amount of energy, or doing the same amount of work with less energy. BBCAT adopted the slogan “Energy Efficiency First!” Then meet the reduced demand with renewable resources. (Renewable resources include forces such as sunlight, wind, and tidal power.) Once the equipment is manufactured and put in place to make use of these resources, they provide energy while emitting almost no CO2. Clean biomass is a renewable fuel, and emits virtually no net CO2.) Later, BBCAT wrote a pair of resolutions to promote these alternatives.

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JUNE 2005 continued

The Democrat editors endorsed coal as a means of adding capacity and diversity to the City’s mostly natural-gas resource mix.


Letters from citizens began to flow to the paper arguing pro and con the coal plant idea. One pro-coal argument was that if a coal plant was to be built in the area, “Tallahassee should have a seat at the table,” so as to be able to influence decisions about the plant.


BBCAT launched its website and began running a series of daily small ads (“one-liners”) in the paper, each one teaching a tidbit about climate, fossil fuels, and energy alternatives.


Members of BBCAT met with Mayor John Marks to advocate for energy alternatives to coal (letters).


Members of BBCAT met with the Democrat’s editorial board in hopes of persuading them to publish an anti-coal, pro-clean energy editorial. The Democrat ran a story that briefly mentioned BBCAT’s position: “Coal plant is not the only way, some say.”

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SUMMER 2005


The City Commission announced it would hold a July 6 public hearing to hear citizens’ views on the coal issue.


Letters to the Democrat continued, mostly opposed, some offering alternatives (diverse views):


Members of BBCAT discussed alternatives to coal with each of the four city commissioners, Andrew Gillum, Debbie Lightsey, Allen Katz, and Mark Mustian. BBCAT advocated two kinds of clean energy: 1) energy efficiency and conservation; and 2) renewable resources such as solar, wind, and clean biomass energy.

At the July 6 City Commission hearing on the coal plant, members of BBCAT and their allies testified on coal’s negative impacts, and on alternative energy. Some 230 other citizens attended the hearing and most spoke against the coal plant project (selected testimony).

The paper reported consensus: “Residents [say] NO to coal” (read).


The Commission set July 13 as the date on which to vote whether to involve the City in the Taylor County coal plant. More letters, editorials, and news stories followed (read).


BBCAT members again met with commissioners individually and urged them, if they were going to vote to stay involved with the coal plant project, to at least allocate sufficient funds to hire expert consultants to identify clean energy possibilities for Tallahassee. BBCAT's argument was that the City should adopt all energy-efficiency and renewable options that would cost less than new generation, before turning to coal.


At the July 13 meeting, the commissioners voted 4 to 1 to continue participating in the Taylor County coal plant through its permitting phase (read). However, the commission also allocated more than $250,000 to hire clean energy consultants.

Hurricanes spinning across Florida during Summer 2005 prompted some to wonder if storms were growing more intense due to global warming. Democrat coverage reflected rising public consciousness (read).


Throughout July and August, BBCAT continued meeting at intervals with the Electric Department and Energy Services staffs, learning their process, and advocating energy efficiency and renewable resources. The Electric Department’s planning director, Gary Brinkworth, invited BBCAT to submit lists of specific energy-efficiency measures and programs for the City to consider adopting. BBCAT studied these areas and complied, submitting recommendations in early September (read).

In letters to the paper, citizens debated coal’s effects on energy costs. The Democrat advanced the idea that a coal plant might help to reduce utility bills.


The City decided to fund a public “education” campaign to promote the coal plant. Citizens opposed the use of public funds for the purpose but the campaign went ahead.

The Democrat pulled back a bit from its pro-coal position, publishing an editorial titled“Brake time: Coal strategy needs revisiting” and another titled“Wanted: Options. Let’s seek other energy choices.”


On August 29, Hurricane Katrina struck New Orleans. In an opinion piece, a member of BBCAT pointed to global warming as a contributing factor: “Katrina’s wrath: The price of global warming.”


In Taylor County, the coal plant partners selected a site for the plant. Taylor County residents protested but were never given a hearing.

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FALL 2005

On September 5, in nearby Madison County, the County Commission voted to oppose the Taylor County coal plant, citing pollution concerns (read).

BBCAT began to make efforts at the county level. At BBCAT’s suggestion, Leon County made it a priority for 2006 to develop a comprehensive community energy policy. Goals were to pursue strategies to promote use of alternative energy sources including solar power; to enhance County facilities, establish incentive programs, and implement a comprehensive air quality protection strategy; and to enhance public education. The County appointed a committee to research energy issues and report back at end of Summer, 2006.


The City’s clean energy consultants came on board: Navigant, Sterling Planet, and Synapse Energy Economics. BBCAT continued meeting with staff and met the consultants.


At the invitation of the planning director, BBCAT began work preparing 20-year energy plan for the City of Tallahassee that would deliver the 282 additional megawatts needed over that time span. BBCAT's plan was named the TIME Plan (“Tallahassee Initiative for Managing Energy”)(view plan). Later, the TIME Plan was modified and renamed BBCAT’s “Clean Energy First” plan.

On October 3, in nearby Wakulla County, the County Commission passed a resolution opposing the Taylor County coal plant, citing pollution concerns (read).


On October 17, the commissioners unanimously approved upgrading of a major natural-gas generator, Hopkins 2, rather than taking it off line. This would improve the plant’s efficiency and add capacity. BBCAT endorsed this move.


On October 29, together with the City and four other civic groups, BBCAT conducted a day-long bus tour of solar and energy-efficient homes in the Tallahassee area (flyer).

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WINTER 2005-2006


On December 6, BBCAT presented its TIME Plan to the City Manager, her citizens’ advisory committee, and staff. The City Manager requested that BBCAT answer staff’s questions about green buildings, distributed generation, easing energy costs for low-income citizens, and solar water-heating programs. BBCAT undertook to prepare written responses to these questions.


The community's dialogue, as reflected in letters to the Democrat, continued striking the same themes: coal pollutes, coal is clean; coal is cheaper, coal will be very costly; the commissioners know too little about clean energy, the citizens know too little about coal.


On January 8, BBCAT presented its responses to the City Manager’s questions (read):


1. Exemplary Green Building Programs
2. How to Create Demand for Green Buildings
3. Easing Energy Costs for Low-Income Citizens
4. Facilitating Acceptance of Distributed Generation
5. Solar Water Heater Information for City Electric

Soon after, BBCAT met with the Leon County energy committee and presented the same five documents (slightly modified) and a long list of examples of other U.S. cities’ and counties’ alternative energy initiatives.

In hopes of resolving the controversy over the economics of coal versus clean energy a BBCAT quantitative analyst produced a technical review and a brief paper derived from it:

“In-depth analysis of the city’s cost and risk studies” (in-depth study)
“Clean energy is less costly than coal” (brief paper)

An opportunity arose to consider a renewable resource: a forestry consultant proposed the use of National Forest waste wood to fuel a clean biomass plant and provide electricity for the City. BBCAT studied the proposal and wrote a letter clarifying the issues and endorsing the idea.

On February 15, by invitation of the City Manager, BBCAT presented its TIME Plan and two resolutions to the City Commission:


TIME Plan presented orally, as in Dec 6 presentation to City Manager
Efficiency First! Resolution
Renewable Energy Resolution


The Commission decided to hold a second hearing on the City’s 20-year energy plan in June (a year after the earlier hearing) and to vote on it in July.


A biomass company, Biomass Gas and Electric (BG&E), approached the City with a proposal to provide energy from clean biomass. BBCAT met with the company and later endorsed this biomass proposal, which would rely partly on waste wood from the National Forest.

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SPRING 2006

On March 1, BBCAT began work at the state level, sending a letter and position paper to each of four candidates for Florida’s governorship, urging them to state their positions on the climate crisis and offering to help develop a state climate action plan (read).


BBCAT members testified before the Senate committee on the Florida Energy Bill. Afterwards, BBCAT sent a letter to the chairman, urging attention to climate, and climate language was written into the bill.


On May 24, the City Commission considered several alternative 20-year energy plans for the city. Staff reported that the cost comparison showed the plan centered on the Taylor County coal plant to be cheapest.

At that meeting, the Commission allowed insufficient time to hear about the energy-efficiency and renewable-fuels options recommended by the clean-energy consultants hired earlier at BBCAT's request.

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SUMMER 2006

BBCAT submitted a letter to the commissioners asking that they listen to the clean-energy consultants before concluding which energy option (coal or other) might be cheapest.


Former Vice President Al Gore’s movie, “An Inconvenient Truth,” made its debut in Tallahassee and helped to shift public opinion toward climate action.


June letters to the Democrat reflected an increased interest in climate, green buildings, and sustainability:


The Florida Public Interest Research Group (FPIRG), which BBCAT considers an ally in climate concerns, released an alert: “ Florida ranks second for largest CO2 increase.”


In July, the Commission postponed its vote on the city 20-year energy plan. July letters to the Democrat included an assertion by the Mayor that the Taylor County coal plant is “the best option we have,” several anti-coal letters, more concerns about climate and rising costs of coal, and some news of, and advocacy for, alternatives, including wind energy and energy efficiency.

BBCAT and its allies continued pushing "Clean Energy First" in letters to the paper (read). BBCAT also demonstrated that the City's own numbers showed the City's clean energy plan to be the least costly (read).

In August, the City held two open houses to explain its proposed coal-centered 20-year plan to interested citizens and conducted an informal survey to elicit citizens’ opinions. BBCAT was invited to attend and explain its views.


For the open houses, BBCAT prepared a critique of the City’s survey, fact sheets on coal’s pollution and climate effects, and a position paper:


Fact Sheet 1. Don’t be misled by the City’s energy survey
Fact Sheet 2. Coal plant pollution harms people’s health
Fact Sheet 3. Coal and climate
Position Paper: Clean Energy First                                         (view all documents)


A BBCAT member wrote to ask prominent NOAA scientist James Hansen his view on the coal plant issue. He responded that he was confident that all coal-burning power plants of the type Tallahassee was considering would “have to be bulldozed by midcentury” (read).

The Commission again pushed back its scheduled hearing and vote on coal versus alternatives. Public debate continued.


Leon County’s energy committee reported back to the County Commission with fifteen clean energy recommendations. The Commission adopted all fifteen.

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FALL 2006


During September, Taylor County’s coal opponents continued asking to be heard, to no avail.

Several dozen Tallahassee area clergy joined to express opposition to the use of coal and submitted their message to the City Commission (read).

The National Sierra Club released an article opposing the coal plant.


BBCAT’s “Clean Energy First” plan was succinctly summed up in two letters to the paper:

“A clean-energy solution is at hand”

“‘Clean-energy plan’ is a better name”


A member of the Democrat ‘s editorial staff did a turn-about and came out forthrightly opposed to the coal plant. Her editorial, titled “A bad investment for our power and our air,” concluded that “Right now the most powerful thing we can do with our seat at [the coal partners’] table is get up and walk away.”


The long-promised final hearing on the City’s 20-year energy plan was held on September 27 and drew more than 200 people, most opposed to the coal plant. Debate continued.


Another Democrat editor weighed in, admitted he had been wrong to support the coal plant idea a year earlier, and urged the City to take a clean-energy course: “Coming clean: Coal’s the wrong way to go.”

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WINTER 2006-2007

On October 11, the Commission voted to approve a 30-year agreement with the biomass company, BG&E, for a 38-megawatt generating plant.


In November, Republican Charlie Crist won the Governor’s seat formerly occupied by Republican Jeb Bush. Nationally, Democrats won control of Congress.


BBCAT asked the City Commission to delay the decision whether to continue its partnership in the Taylor County coal plant until it had studied more of the factors affecting the costs and impacts of coal.


The Commission’s vote on the city energy plan was rescheduled for December 6.


On November 21, the coal plant partners moved ahead another step as the Taylor County Commission rezoned the selected site from “agricultural” to “power plant.” The coal plant partners made ready for their next move: applying for a certificate of need from the Florida Public Service Commission (PSC).


In advance of the PSC vote, BBCAT prepared and distributed two flyers urging citizens to express anti-coal views to commissioners (flyers).


Concerned citizens met with the Democrat’s editorial board to suggest continuing with coal, but using a less polluting method of harvesting its energy, gasification: The Democrat backed this point of view.


BBCAT advised the editorial board that neither coal method was acceptable.


About 500 high school students presented a petition to the City Commission asking for a clean energy future for Tallahassee (view).


On December 6, the City Electric staff presented the Commission with a new slate of possible energy plans. The Commission voted 3 to 2 in favor of a short-term (5-year) plan to stay involved with the Taylor County coal plant through the next permitting step, but not necessarily beyond 2008.


Simultaneously, the Commission committed to implementing all of the energy-efficiency measures recommended by the clean energy consultants. These measures were expected to net, for the City, 59 megawatts of energy savings by 2012 and 167 megawatts by 2026.


In January, the Democrats assumed control of Congress. Since then, BBCAT’s efforts have been occurring in the more supportive context of statewide and nationwide efforts to advance clean-energy, climate-abatement measures.


Also in January, the president of the Washington-based, non-profit Climate Institute, a BBCAT ally, pointed to Texas and Florida as “the decisive battleground of the U.S. carbon wars” and referred to BBCAT as “a David fighting the Goliath of the coal industry.”


January 8. The PSC announced its intent to hear the Taylor Energy Center’s petition for a certificate of need.


January 9. The PSC announced that it was making rules to promote electricity generation from renewable energy.


January 9. The chairman of the PSC notified the public of the upcoming “need determination” hearing on the proposed Taylor County coal plant and asked, “Do we need it?”


The January 10 PSC hearing drew many more speakers than usual, mostly coal opponents, and went on for more than three days. Among those testifying were representatives of the Sierra Club and the Natural Resources Defense Council (view testimony).


During January, the U.S. Congress began drafting bills to deal with climate change by imposing penalties on carbon emissions. Major power companies favored the enactment of climate legislation. Senators Bingaman (D, New Mexico) and Boxer (D, California) declared that they would give no advantage to coal utilities that rushed to start building coal plants before carbon emissions penalties were imposed.


On January 19, the Florida PSC held a workshop on renewable energy. Speakers requested that the PSC drop barriers created by utilities to hinder alternative energy production.


On January 22, the Tallahassee Democrat editorial board pointed to the season’s unnatural weather as a sign of global climate change.


On February 2, Tallahassee finalized its contract with BG&E for 35 - 40 megawatts of electricity from clean biomass.


Also during February, the Florida Energy Commission (FEC), created by a provision in the Florida Energy Bill of 2006, met for the first time.

Leon County added three hybrid cars to its vehicle fleet.


February 9. The PSC staff recommended approval of the Taylor Energy Center need petition, but at its February 13 meeting, the commissioners decided to postpone their decision to March 13, to allow more time to consider the abundant testimony they had heard.


February 13. The PSC adopted rules to encourage the development of nuclear power.


February 20. The Florida Department of Community Affairs objected to the Taylor County coal plant plan on the basis that the plant was slated to be built in an environmentally sensitive area (read).

The next day , a proposal came before the Tallahassee City Commission to convert Tallahassee trash to energy using new plasma torch technology. The commission undertook to study the proposal.

An editorial in the Democrat pointed out that incentives for curbing carbon emissions could give rise to economic opportunities for Florida businesses.


In March, the PSC’s annual report emphasized energy conservation, pointing to seven utilities’ eforts to save energy.


On March 6, Governor Crist, in his State of the State address, expressed the intent to make Florida “the national leader in the production of alternative energy” (excerpt).


On March 8, the Taylor County coal plant partners asked the PSC to delay making its decision while they recalculated costs of the proposed coal plant. Some modeling assumptions were wrong, and costs of construction had risen.


Tallahassee’s Energy Services Department announced it would hand out 2,500 compact fluorescent light bulbs and save residents more than $185,000.


March 9. A City engineer discovered that the consultant who provided the cost estimate for the TEC had made a $40 million mistake.

March 10. The Tallahassee Democrat reported that the Taylor County coal plant was now projected to cost $40 million more than originally estimated and that alternative energy options were likely preferable: “Coal toll.”


During March, groups all over the United States including Florida began preparing for hundreds of March 20 “Step-It-Up” rallies calling for a nationwide, 80% reduction in CO2 emissions by 2050.


March 15. BBCAT asked that, at its first meeting, the new Energy Commission develop an accelerated climate action plan for Florida (read).


March 17. The Democrat reported that public opinion was turning against the Taylor County coal plant as estimated costs had risen and the Governor had expressed climate concerns.


March 24. The Florida Energy Commission chairperson responded to BBCAT that they would accelerate the state climate action plan as requested.

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SPRING 2007

January 2007. The certificate of need hearing at the Public Service Commission drew unprecedented citizen opposition and the TEC docket was closed without a decision.

April 5. Madison County Commissioners unanimously agreed (5-0) that TEC's coal waste should be disposed of in Taylor County, not in Madison County.

April 6. Mark McCain, a TEC spokesman, said the partnership had no plans to dispose of waste in Madison County. The partnership would sell as much of the waste as possible for use in asphalt, concrete, and drywall. Whatever waste could not be sold would be placed in double-lined storage areas to prevent groundwater contamination,

May. The TEC coal plant partners requested a limited reopening of the Public Service Commission docket to reconsider costs of the coal plant. The Commission agreed to reopen the record for the limited purpose of taking evidence on a revision of the cost modeling for the plant and its effect on the applicants’ petition for determination of need. 

June 4. The partners asked the Taylor County commissioners to amend the county comprehensive plan to allow county land to be used for "electric power generating." The commissioners voted to approve this amendment.

The TEC asked to use wastewater from Buckeye to meet at least 80 percent of the coal plant's water needs. As part of the agreement, TEC would have to pay $2 million to Buckeye and Tallahassee's share would be $400,000. Tallahassee objected to committing further funds to the coal plant project but the other project partners chose to move forward over Tallahassee's protests.

SUMMER 2007

July 3. The partnership in the Taylor County coal plant project suspended permitting activities and issued a statement saying that they would take time "to assess how best to meet . . . customers' electricity needs in ways consistent with growing concerns about greenhouse gas emissions."

FALL and WINTER 2007

With the efforts of our City, County, and State to come to grips with climate change and develop new, carbon-free sources of energy, BBCAT finds itself with new tasks to perform. From 2005 until 2007, opposing the proposed Taylor County coal plant claimed a lot of our time and energy. Now we are studying alternatives to fossil-fuel energy and encouraging our utility and city, county, and state governments to invest in a clean-energy future. We wrote three position papers this fall—one each on nuclear, ocean-current, and wind energy for Florida. Links to these papers appear on our home page.

2008

With the inauguration of Governor Charlie Crist in January 2008, Florida turned a corner. Crist is a strong believer in the need to deal with climate change. Early in the year, he sought the advice of other climate leaders such as Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger of California and appointed working groups to recommend cuts in the state's greenhouse gas emissions and new policies to ease the way towards replacement of fossil fuels with renewable resources.

To view the activities of the Governor's Action Team on Energy and Climate Change, go here.