IF FPL INVESTED HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS IN "HARDENING" ITS SYSTEM FOR HURRICANES, THEN I'M THE KING OF SPAIN.
THE REALITY IS MOST OF MY NEIGHBORS ARE SUFFERING BEYOND BELIEF WITH NO POWER FOR A WEEK AND COUNTING.
PLEASE, ELECTED OFFICIALS, BACK A CLASS ACTION LAWSUIT TO STRIP FPL OF ALL PROFITS FOR THE PAST FIVE YEARS.
USE THAT CLAWED BACK MONEY TO FUND UNDERGROUNDING OF LINES
Forcing FPL
to do better is something every elected official -- from US senate down to
commissioners of the smallest village in Dace County should get involved in.
Whether you are Republican, Democrat or Independent, or in a nonpartisan
seat -- you must be a leader who demands this.
FPL is a
monopoly. It is regulated (should be regulated much more heavily) by the state.
The stuff it claimed about spending billions "hardening" the
system against windstorms the past dozen years is clearly the biggest crock of
BS ever dumped on South Florida in history.
I think
there should be a class action, claw back lawsuit. The past 5 or more
years of profits should be stripped from FPL and put into undergrounding of
lines.
If this
abusive utility is left to its own devices, it will claim to be spending our
hard earned money on improving the system.
We all know
darn well that is a total crock. Their upper management is getting rich, their
shareholders are making zillions and their lobbyists bill hundreds of thousands
to make sure profiteering -- not people -- come first in Tallahassee and at
every local city hall.
The only way
I can see my loved ones and neighbors going only 48 hours (this was a tropical
storm in Dade, folks, not a Cat 1, not a Cat 2, not a Cat 3) instead of a soul-klling week and counting -- is to strip hundreds of millions in profit from
FPL.
Then
dedicate that money to undergrounding and reliable rewiring.
Mayors
Bloomberg of NYC, Norquist of Milwaukee and Diaz of Miami all dedicated them to
people-based causes after being termed out of office.
I challenge
Mayor Regalado, soon to leave office, to dedicate the remainder of his life to
forcing FPL to make things right...or suing in the courts (since we cannot
trust FPL to make things right) and using the multimillion, maybe billion
dollar settlement to create an infrastructure that holds up to the heart of
hurricane territory.
I challenge
future Mayor Suarez to dedicate a part of his leadership of Miami to building a
bipartisan front -- from our US senators to our state reps and senators to all
local leaders including Mayor Gimenez -- focused on holding FPL
responsible.
Our next
governor must make undergrounding of public electricity lines a top part of
his/her platform.
Our elected
officials, from the smallest local level up to the highest statewide and
federal, should pledge to take no campaign contributions from FPL or any other
monopoly energy utility.
Please feel
free to share these thoughts, with credit to me, on FB, twitter, blast emails
and any other online format.
