Back to BBCAT Events page    

7/6 testimony (Robert Deyle)

Coal combustion exerts immense impacts on climate

My name is Robert Deyle. I live at 2409 Oakdale Street in Tallahassee. I am a professor of environmental planning at Florida State University.

I am here this evening to urge you to slow down because I believe that coal combustion should be viewed as our electricity source of last resort.

I say that because of the immense impacts that coal combustion exerts on global climate change.

Global climate change is no longer a vague specter somewhere in the uncertain future. Climate change has arrived, and the faces you see every day are the faces of those who will be affected.

Arctic sea ice is now melting 3 weeks earlier than in 1970. As a result, the average weights of polar bears have dropped between 15 and 20%, and their survival is now in question.

The snows of Kilimanjaro are expected to disappear by 2020.

These are impacts that we are witnessing now, because the poles are warming faster than the rest of the planet.

An article in the March 2005 issue of the journal Science, the premier peer-reviewed scientific journal in the United States, estimates that if we had capped carbon dioxide emissions at 2000 levels we would be facing an additional 1 degree Fahrenheit increase in average global temperature by 2100.

It is estimated that between now and 2100 we will face increases in sea level on the order of 10 to 24 inches, that is nearly 1 to 2 feet.

Associated changes in temperature and rainfall patterns are predicted to have dramatic effects on crops and natural ecosystems, and on the frequency of death from heat stroke.

And the intensity of hurricanes will increase as sea surface temperatures warm, because the relationship between sea surface temperature and hurricane intensity is essentially linear.

These are impacts that my grandchildren will have to contend with.

What does this have to do with coal?

Simply this - The emissions of carbon dioxide per BTU of energy produced by burning coal are 1.8 times greater, nearly twice as great, as those produced by burning natural gas.

I am concerned that the expenditure of 3.5 to 6 million dollars of taxpayer money will create a momentum that will be very difficult to resist.

I am here to urge you to fully assess the range of options, including impacts on climate change, by completing the current Integrated Resource Planning study, BEFORE sinking so much of our tax dollars into the option that is likely to exert the most severe consequences on the quality of life of those who come after us.

This decision is going to impact the lives of our own children and grandchildren. Let's not buy an expensive ticket on the coal train before we've fully assessed where it will take us.

Thank you.

7/6 testimony (Ed Oaksford)

Hydro alternative deserves a good look

Madam Manager, Mr. Mayor, Commissioners, my name is Ed Oaksford and I live at 2520 Harriman Circle here in Tallahassee, Florida. I am a resident and father of two asthmatic children and an organic gardener that really knows the value of renewable solar energy.

That being said, you might guess that I'm not overly excited about the city entertaining the thought of supporting a coal-fired power generation facility especially because I have a vision of Tallahassee being a showcase of non-polluting renewable energy tapping into research at our local universities, the Mag Lab, the Center for Applied Power, and business enterprises highlighting the advances of alternative energy sources.

Currently, I am outfitting my own home with a geothermal heat pump and solar photovoltaic system to reduce the size of my future energy footprint. This will cost me more money up front but I'm willing to bet that the investment will be well worth it in the future. I am also a participant in the City's Green for You Program. I would love to see the City, as it seeks to meet its future energy needs, take the same approach as I am taking.

I'm here tonight to share with everyone a promising alternative renewable energy source that Florida is uniquely poised to take advantage of. That source of power is derived from ocean currents. In our case namely the Gulf Stream current that comes within 1 mile of Florida's coast line and flows at a constant rate of 4.5 knots with a volume of 30 million cubic meters per second. Its power-generating capability can be compared with the Hoover Dam which at its maximum flow of 14 thousand cubic meters per second produces 14 billion kilowatt-hours per year.

In the spring of last year, two companies, Florida Hydro Inc. and Red Circle Systems Corporation submitted permit applications to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to install marine-current power-generation facilities at more than 10 locations along Florida's east coast. Information in these public documents leads me to believe that these types of power generation facilities could supply significant portions of our state's power needs within the next two to three years.

One of these proposed projects will produce the same amount of energy as a coal-fired power plant burning 150 million pounds of coal, but without producing:

    - 2,900,000 pounds of sulphur dioxide
    - 1,680,000 pounds of nitrogen oxide
    - 38,200 pounds of carbon monoxide, or
    - 352,000,000 pounds of carbon dioxide

The details of these permit applications can be examined at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commissions online e-library website: http://elibrary.ferc.gov/idmws/search/fercgensearch.asp

It is my hope that the City Commission and its staff can examine these non-polluting, renewable ocean-current power-generation systems. Let the citizens know whether a partnership with the primaries of these ventures can be entered into to meet the future energy needs of our community instead of pursuing a coal-fired plant. I for one would feel much more comfortable with that type of arrangement.

7/6 testimony (Pamela McVety)

Oppose coal; consider alternatives

Honorable Commissioners: I am Pam McVety and I reside at 2112 Middlewood Drive.

Thank you for meeting tonight to hear from the public on whether to pursue a partnership to build a coal-fired power plant in Taylor County. I am providing written comments because I am unable to be present this evening.

As a long-time resident of Tallahassee, one of the cleanest communities in Florida, I am opposed to the proposed coal-fired power plant. The reasons are obvious. Coal is dirty, even with state-of-the-art pollution controls. Air pollution hurts our health, economy and natural systems. But, the main reason is global warming which our burning of fossil fuels causes. Given the seriousness of global warming, it is almost incomprehensible that any community would even consider burning coal as an energy option at this time.

In case you are not aware of how serious global warming is or that its impacts are already under way, please check out the website www.pewclimate.org or read the most recent report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Or drive south a couple hours to Waccassasa Bay near Cedar Key and look at the dead palm trees in the water. Sea level is rising and moving inland up to 2 meters per year in this area.

There are other options besides coal. Check out the Florida Hydro, Inc., Gulf Stream Energy Project which is pending with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. It is proposing to generate energy from the Florida Gulf Stream. It has the potential within a few years to generate enough power to meet all of Florida's energy needs, including ours.

Please don't rush to the easiest solution. In the long run it is not the cheapest solution. It is the most damaging to our community and to future generations. You can do better.

Thank you for the opportunity to comment.

7/6 testimony (Holly Binns)

Florida Public Interest Research Group advocates clean energy

Good evening. My name is Holly Binns, and I am the Field Director for the Florida Public Interest Research Group. Florida PIRG is a statewide, non-profit and non-partisan environmental and consumer advocacy organization, and I am here tonight to speak on behalf of our thousands of members who reside in the City of Tallahassee.

I appreciate the opportunity tonight to share with you our concerns. This is an enormous decision to make less than two months after this proposal was first made public, and there are a number of questions that remain unanswered.

How will the $350 million in capital costs impact our electric bills, particularly given that traditionally, a coal-fired power plant is more expensive to build and operate than a combined cycle natural gas unit? Fuel costs are not the only factor we should consider.

What will be the average annual emissions of smog- and soot-forming pollutants, particulates, mercury and carbon dioxide pollution? An 850 MW coal-fired power plant will degrade our air quality, and add even more nitrogen and toxic mercury pollution to treasured local waterways like the St. Marks and Apalachicola Rivers, Wakulla Springs, and Lake Talquin. It takes less than a teaspoon of mercury to contaminate the fish in a 25 acre lake, so this a particularly significant concern.

Another question to consider is that, if built, this power plant will be around for decades. Momentum is building in the U.S. Senate to limit emissions of carbon dioxide, the global warming pollutant, from the electric utility sector, and this may well happen within the next decade. When that happens, the proposed coal plant may prove to be an imprudent investment, and ratepayers may be saddled with the added cost of a carbon tax or expensive retrofits to meet this requirement.

The bottom line is that this power plant will have a profound impact on our region and on our quality of life for 30 years or more. We firmly believe that these will be negative impacts, and we therefore urge you to not invest our tax dollars in this proposal. Instead of looking to the kinds of electricity generation our parents and grandparents grew up with, we look forward to working with you to craft a clean energy future for Tallahassee, one that our grandchildren can live with.

Thank you for your time.

7/6 testimony (Gary Lloyd)

Sierra Club identifies many examples for City to follow

I am Gary Lloyd, representing the Big Bend Sierra Club. I live at 1922 Mallory Square.

As I learn what is happening with energy supplies across the USA, I don't understand why Tallahassee would want to limit itself to "business as usual."

Lakeland, Orlando, and Gainesville are doing some wise demand-side steps. They have (a) Peak Hour pricing and (b) Alternative (Inverted) Rates for unnecessarily high users. Gainesville's rate increase begins at 750 KWH. The other two cities have more than two tiers. All three have similar percentages of low-income households as Tallahassee, 11 to 13%, and there has been no citizen outcry. It is "pay as you use" and a good message for the other 88% of the citizens.

Nine Atlantic states, Delaware to Maine, are setting up standards to approach the Kyoto level of carbon dioxide.

Last November, Colorado voters passed a referendum to set 10% of all energy deriving from renewables by 2015.

A few weeks ago, the U.S. Senate voted to set the same standards as Colorado, by 2020.

The Sierra Club does not want a coal plant. The Club remains puzzled why Tallahassee ignores the progress of other cities by not even setting goals.

Thank you.

7/6 testimony (LucyAnn Walker-Fraser)

Costs of climate change far outweigh any savings from coal

I am LucyAnn Walker-Fraser and I live at 1604 Hasosaw Nene.

The briefing paper on the proposed North Florida coal plant distributed by the City Commission at the public hearing on July 6th states that, if the coal plant is approved, electric rates will increase in the short-term, but asserts that there will be long-term benefits. This analysis ignores the increasing impacts of global climate change. Burning coal results in twice as much production of carbon dioxide, the chief culprit in global climate change, as burning natural gas to produce electricity. Most of the rest of the world, and many cities in the U.S. are now taking action against this very real threat, and within the next ten years, we too will have to face it, like it or not.

Increasing our production of heat-trapping carbon dioxide gases does not make sense in the long term, when we will have to face the necessity of a carbon tax or other limits on carbon emissions. Those who are now investing aggressively in efficiency and renewable energy will have made the right long-term economic choice. Additional investment in efficiency, unlike the coal plant project, would actually produce immediate savings that should be directed towards helping low-income citizens burdened by high electric bills. And investment in renewable energy produces long-term environmental, health, and economic benefits.

7/6 testimony (Ellie Whitney)

Climate Action Team recommends steps to clean energy future

I am Ellie Whitney. I live at 745 Hunter Street and I am speaking for the Big Bend Climate Action Team.

To launch the City's progress towards a clean energy future, we suggest you direct your staff, with the advice of an expert consultant,* to:

Include an analysis with each option, showing:

*The consultant hired should have expertise in the area of clean energy - and the goal should be to maximize the bang for the buck. Spend as much for this consultant as it costs to do the job well. If $3 million is spent to investigate coal, spend at least an equivalent amount to investigate clean energy.

7/6 testimony (June Wiaz)

I thank Mayor Marks for signing the Mayors' Climate Protection Agreement

I am June Wiaz and I live at 3436 Welwyn Way.

I'd like to thank Mayor Marks for signing the mayors' letter in favor of action to combat global climate change. (The audience applauded, acknowledging the mayor's action in this regard.)

While we are deeply appreciative of the mayor's signature, for his involvement in this effort to amount to anything more than a hollow, meaningless gesture, we now have to walk the walk. A coal-fired plant is inconsistent with this apparent commitment to address global warming.

7/6 testimony (Van Lewis)

Coal should be at the bottom of the list