The future of energy and Sabal Trail pipeline at Suwannee Cuonty Commission –Jasper News

Several Suwannee County Commissioners are studying the difficult and constantly-changing subject of energy, although the Chairman said he had already made up his mind,
Carl McKinney’s droll legend refers on his picture refers to Chris Mericle as “Jasper man”. The map shows sinkholes near the proposed pipeline path across the Suwannee River and the Falmouth Cathedral Cave System. at the Suwannee County Board of Commissioners meeting last night. They did nothing about a further resolution against Sabal Trail, although numerous citizens (many of them WWALS members) from Suwannee County and nearby counties helped discuss the situation.

Carl McKinney, Suwannee Democrat, 16 December 2015, The future of energy: Debate takes over Suwannee commission meeting,

Following the Suwannee County Commission’s decision last week not to formally oppose the Sabal Trail pipeline entering its jurisdiction, the public engaged commissioners in a debate over the future of energy.

At Tuesday evening’s commission meeting, several members of the public discussed with commissioners the advantages of solar power, Florida’s energy needs and environmental stewardship.

During public comment, local resident Debra Johnson asked commissioners to consider supporting a ballot initiative aimed at making solar power more accessible for Floridians.

“We live in Florida,” she said. “We are the Sunshine State.”

Florida is one of only four states that prohibits consumers from purchasing solar power from anyone other than a utility company.

The Floridians For Solar Choice initiative would remove that barrier, Johnson said. It would give people who can’t afford the upfront cost of installing solar panels the option to purchase the energy from a contractor.

There’s more in the story, for example about an interaction between Lori McCraney and Chairman Jason Bashaw.

Other speakers, including WWALS president John Quarterman,

After describing how energy does actually change quickly, I mentioned the EPA letter backpedaling on Sabal Trail.

…a representative of Florida Power & Light and local residents also addressed the commission about Sabal Trail.

The FPL rep. apparently had learned his bit from the same playbook as Georgia Power used to use three years ago. FPL has to provide “clean, safe, reliable energy” and they’re “experimenting” with solar power, which “has its place”. Oh, and Florida is too cloudy for solar power, which is only useful in the U.S. southwest. Nevermind somebody had already brought up that New Jersey, with half the population of Florida and much farther north, has far more solar power.

At the end the Chairman claimed nobody’s position was changed, but I’m not sure that’s true. At least two of the Commissioners seemed to be following the discussion closely.

-jsq