The Glades County Commission gave its unanimous approval yesterday for construction of a coal burning plant by Florida Power and Light. The new coal fueled power plant planned for rural Glades County would provide electricity for about 635 thousand F-P-L Customers. FPL is the largest electric utility provider in Florida. Spokesman Grover Whidden says the decision to build a coal burning plant is the result advances in technology.

“So far it isn’t being used yet in the u.s. although there are several companies that have announced proposed projects that use this technology, but the technology is actually u..s technology which has been proven in japan and germany where they actually have these plants right in their metropolitan area.”

The plant is welcome in Glades County. County manager Wendell Taylor says its an economic boon.

“Its unlike anything we’ve ever experienced before. in fact its greater than all the things we’ve ever had before over here. it’s truly huge investment of two to three billion dollars and the taxable part will be about 2.6 billion dollars.”

Taylor says the Glades Power Park will also create about 180 good jobs. If the permitting process goes smoothly, ground breaking will be in 2008 and the plant will up and operating by 2013.




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Alker
9/12/06

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Florida Power and Light got the go-ahead today (yesterday) from the Glades County Commission to build a coal operated power plant there. F-P-L spokesman Grover Whidden says the utility needs another plant to meet a growth in demand for electric energy in Florida. And he says at this juncture – coal is a good way to go.

byte: :43 companies are looking again at coal, because as you know it’s a very plentiful fossil fuel in the united states – we have very large reserves in this country – so its an opportunity you use our own domestic reserves and also there’s some reserves in this hemishphere in south America that are readily available and very economical

Whidden says the plant will be built with technology that makes burning coal cleaner. It will be the first power plant of its kind in the country. If all goes as planned it will operating by 2013, providing power an estimated 635 thousand F-P-L customers.

The Glades County Commission gave its unanimous approval yesterday for construction of a coal burning plant by Florida Power and Light. The new coal fueled power plant planned for rural Glades County would provide electricity for about 635 thousand F-P-L Customers. FPL is the largest electric utility provider in Florida. Spokesman Grover Whidden says the decision to build a coal burning plant is the result advances in technology.

“So far it isn’t being used yet in the u.s. although there are several companies that have announced proposed projects that use this technology, but the technology is actually u..s technology which has been proven in japan and germany where they actually have these plants right in their metropolitan area.”

The plant is welcome in Glades County. County manager Wendell Taylor says its an economic boon.

“Its unlike anything we’ve ever experienced before. in fact its greater than all the things we’ve ever had before over here. it’s truly huge investment of two to three billion dollars and the taxable part will be about 2.6 billion dollars.”

Taylor says the Glades Power Park will also create about 180 good jobs. If the permitting process goes smoothly, ground breaking will be in 2008 and the plant will up and operating by 2013.




Plant2
Alker
9/12/06

Local cuts disc
TK
RT

Florida Power and Light got the go-ahead today (yesterday) from the Glades County Commission to build a coal operated power plant there. F-P-L spokesman Grover Whidden says the utility needs another plant to meet a growth in demand for electric energy in Florida. And he says at this juncture – coal is a good way to go.

byte: :43 companies are looking again at coal, because as you know it’s a very plentiful fossil fuel in the united states – we have very large reserves in this country – so its an opportunity you use our own domestic reserves and also there’s some reserves in this hemishphere in south America that are readily available and very economical

Whidden says the plant will be built with technology that makes burning coal cleaner. It will be the first power plant of its kind in the country. If all goes as planned it will operating by 2013, providing power an estimated 635 thousand F-P-L customers.

The new director of the grassroots Sanibel group - People United to Restore our Rivers and Estuaries or PURRE - is in Washington DC this morning. Mary Rawl of Fort Myers is getting training on how to lobby Congress. Because today she’ll represent Southwest Florida during River Lobby Days.
PURRE's goal is to promote the protection and restoration of the Caloosahatchee River and its estuary. Rawl has 22 years of experience as a water resources professional and a degree in geology. She also sits on the board of Riverwatch and chairs the Southwest Florida Water Resources Conference.
The Army Corps of Engineers holds its final series of meetings to gather public comments on the proposed new water control plan for Lake Okeechobee. The meeting is Thursday at 6:30 at Lee County Commission Chambers in Ft. Myers. WGCU’s Amy Tardif spoke with Rawl.

The forecast path of Tropical Storm Gordon puts the system over the Island of Bermuda. The Bermuda Weather Service says people should take the storm seriously. Meanwhile forecasters at the National Hurricane Center in Miami say if the storm follows its predicted path it should veer well off the U-S-Coast. The forecasts are the result of cooperation among meteorologists from all the nations impacted by the Atlantic hurricane season. W-G-C-U’s Valerie Alker has more.

Hundreds of people turned out yesterday in Ft. Myer’s Centennial Park to commemorate the events of September 11th 2001. One speaker said the 9-11 terror attacks are this generation’s equivalent of December 7 1941 – Pearl Harbor – a day that will live in infamy. The United States changed forever following that attack. And Lee County Sheriff Mike Scott says it changed again on that day five years ago.

“That’s one of the difficult lessons that we learned. We learned
how vulnerable we are as a society as a country. And we’re better prepared for sure as a society as a country, although it’s a never ending battle. And when you’re fighting the element of surprise, it’s always tough.”

The event in Ft. Myers honored all the people who lost their lives on September 11 2001 – with special tribute paid to fire fighters and law enforcement officers. WGCU’s Valerie Alker has this sound portrait

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Southwest Florida transportation officials say it appears the widening of U-S 41 in Bonita Springs is set to finish later this month...almost nine months behind schedule. The 18-million dollar project started in 2003. The mission: add an extra lane for three miles on a busy and congested road in South Lee County. Since then the contractor, Astaldi, has missed many interim deadlines to get the work completed on-time much to the chagrin of residents and businesses who have lost time and money since the 41 widening project began. Florida Department of Transportation spokeswoman Debbie Tower says the contractor believes the widening will really be completed by the end of the month.

“Florida DOT is not pleased with Astaldi’s overall performance on the project. In recent months, Astaldi has dedicated the resources and has made good progress on the project. However, the agreement was to see this job finished in April. That did not happen and we are disappointed with the schedule moving and slipping.”

The D-O-T fines Astaldi 61-hundred dollars every day. By the time the Italian-based company is finished, it will have to pay 800-thousand dollars in fines.

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The massively-delayed widening of U-S 41 in South Lee County is supposed to be finished by the end of the month. After almost a year of delays, state transportation officials are optimistic the project will be completed soon. Florida Department of Transportation spokeswoman Debbie Tower says the finish line is in sight. After three years of work to add an extra lane on a three-mile stretch of U-S 41 through Bonita Springs, the project’s end can’t come soon enough for business owners and residents. Tower says the project was supposed to be finished last January. Then it was April, then the summer and now by the end of September, hopefully.

“We certainly understand the community’s frustration with this project. In fact, we share it. We understand the community would like to see six-lanes open to traffic and would have liked to have seen that in January. Certainly April, the project should have been finished. We understand the frustration.”

The Italian contractor, Astaldi, has blamed rainy weather, cement shortages and unexpected environmental obstacles. The company now has to pay 61-hundred dollars every day to the state as a penalty. By the time the project finishes, Astaldi will have to fork over more than 800-thousand dollars in fines.

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Southwest Florida transportation officials say it appears the widening of U-S 41 in Bonita Springs is set to finish later this month...almost nine months behind schedule. The 18-million dollar project started in 2003. The mission: add an extra lane for three miles on a busy and congested road in South Lee County. Since then the contractor, Astaldi, has missed many interim deadlines to get the work completed on-time much to the chagrin of residents and businesses who have lost time and money since the 41 widening project began. Florida Department of Transportation spokeswoman Debbie Tower says the contractor believes the widening will really be completed by the end of the month.

“Florida DOT is not pleased with Astaldi’s overall performance on the project. In recent months, Astaldi has dedicated the resources and has made good progress on the project. However, the agreement was to see this job finished in April. That did not happen and we are disappointed with the schedule moving and slipping.”

The D-O-T fines Astaldi 61-hundred dollars every day. By the time the Italian-based company is finished, it will have to pay 800-thousand dollars in fines.

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The massively-delayed widening of U-S 41 in South Lee County is supposed to be finished by the end of the month. After almost a year of delays, state transportation officials are optimistic the project will be completed soon. Florida Department of Transportation spokeswoman Debbie Tower says the finish line is in sight. After three years of work to add an extra lane on a three-mile stretch of U-S 41 through Bonita Springs, the project’s end can’t come soon enough for business owners and residents. Tower says the project was supposed to be finished last January. Then it was April, then the summer and now by the end of September, hopefully.

“We certainly understand the community’s frustration with this project. In fact, we share it. We understand the community would like to see six-lanes open to traffic and would have liked to have seen that in January. Certainly April, the project should have been finished. We understand the frustration.”

The Italian contractor, Astaldi, has blamed rainy weather, cement shortages and unexpected environmental obstacles. The company now has to pay 61-hundred dollars every day to the state as a penalty. By the time the project finishes, Astaldi will have to fork over more than 800-thousand dollars in fines.