Rethinking Plant Adaptation Photo: Sebastián Mejía, Paris Review
Photo: From a Paris Review article on a variety of studies about plant adaption and reaction.
— Cody Delistraty, Paris Review
Read entire article
Scenic Highways: Ormond Scenic Loop and Trail
Photo: News-Journal, Jewell Tomazin
“Between the Ormond Scenic Loop and Trail, The Casements and Rockefeller Gardens, and beachfront parks, Florida’s north Volusia County is home to many photo-worthy places.
One of Florida’s well-known scenic routes, the Ormond Scenic Loop and Trail, is stunning and diverse from start to finish.
Narrow roads pass through preserved oceanfront on Highway A1A, wind along rivers and creeks on High Bridge Road and Walter Boardman Lane, venture beneath oaks and beside sugar mill ruins on Old Dixie Highway and are lined by the luxurious waterfront homes on John Anderson Drive…
With a loop of more than 30 miles surrounding the Halifax River, there are beautiful sights on every corner. Pictures do no justice to the trail, best explored by car or by bicycle, for those who have the endurance.
Only a few feet of land separates the road in some areas, which winds along marsh, creeks and rivers on High Bridge Road.
Preserved barrier island and dune habitats can be seen along parts of John Anderson Drive and A1A, giving passersby a glimpse of Old Florida…”
— Jewell Tomazin, News-Journal
Read entire article
Undergrounding: “Our power lines will be buried for storm safety. It could cost FPL up to $35 billion.
“Florida Power and Light Co. and other electric utilities in the state now can proceed with burying lines in your neighborhood, but it’s going to take at least 30 years to accomplish, and the price tag for customers is still a mystery.
The state Legislature approved a storm-protection bill last spring, signed into law by Gov. Ron DeSantis, that allows FPL and other electric utilities to charge customers for putting neighborhood power lines underground.
In a meeting with the Sun Sentinel Editorial Board on Wednesday, FPL CEO and president Eric Silagy finally put a figure on burying neighborhood lines for his customers: $25 billion to $35 billion…
In a recent session to create rules for the program, some commissioners were concerned about whether they’ll have enough information to set electric rates, and how they’ll be able to tell whether expenses being billed under ‘storm-protection recovery’are different from those being charged through base rates — a mandate of the law.
FPL proposed utilities’ providing project and cost detail in only the first year of the three years of data requested by lawmakers, with FPL lawyer Ken Rubin telling commissioners projects could change year-to-year due to storms and reliability data, change-out of equipment, electrical load changes and customers’ acceptance of installing lines underground in a neighborhood.
Deputy Public Counsel Charles Rehwinkel told commissioners they should get as much detail as possible from the utilities upfront. ‘There’s so much money involved that I think the additional effort and cost to get the details is worth it and overrides any customer confusion,’he said.
Jon Moyle, who represents the Florida Industrial Power Users Group — big-energy users — said ‘both the Legislature and customers want clarity and a range of certainty about the rate impacts of the storm hardening plans.”
Mark Futrell, deputy executive director of the PSC staff, said in the rule-making session that he sees potential litigation if project details and expenses are not provided upfront.
But in the end, commissioners opted to give FPL and other utilities flexibility it asked for in detailing projects and costs.
Commissioner Julie Brown, responding to Futrell’s concerns, said, ‘I do feel there are plentiful checks and balances here in the public interest. … We’re going to have so much opportunity to review the projects and the costs associated. We’re going to get annual reports.” The proposed rules will advance for approval if the Public Service Commission receives no request for a public hearing by Oct. 28.”
— Marcia Heroux Pounds, South Florida Sun Sentinel
Read entire article
Undergrounding: “Consumer watchdog requests public hearing on underground power line rules over costs”
Photo: SSMG
“State regulators speedily approved underground utility project rules for Florida Power & Light Co. and other electric utilities on Oct. 3. But not so fast, says the Florida Office of Public Counsel, which filed a petition Friday requesting a public hearing on the rules. A new law signed by Gov. DeSantis in July allows the state utilities to recover expenses for burying power lines. The rules would oversee a multi-decade statewide project to bury neighborhood power lines underground.
The cost to FPL and other electric utility customers in the state is unknown.
But Public Counsel J.R. Kelly said his office wants to make sure there’s no ‘double recovery’of expenses for underground projects through both a special recovery process created by the law and base rates. He also wants to make sure the money utilities spend on burying power lines is ‘prudent and reasonable.’
The consumer watchdog says in the petition that proposed rules approved by the Florida Public Service Commission on Oct. 3 go further than the new state law allows, and asks the rules be revised.
‘These rules … exceed the statutory authority granted by the Legislature …or are otherwise contrary to the state’s interests,’the Office of Public Counsel says in its petition.
…Deputy Public Counsel Charles Rehwinkel told commissioners it’s important they get as much detail as possible from the utilities upfront about their undergrounding plans and costs.
‘There’s so much money involved that I think the additional effort and cost to get the details is worth it and overrides any customer confusion,’Rehwinkel said.
FPL has 71,000 miles of neighborhood lines in its service territory, which is about half the state, and it has buried about 26,000 or 38 percent. That leaves about 43,000 lines to bury, according to FPL’s CEO.”
— Marcia Heroux Pounds, South Florida Sun Sentinel
Read entire article
Placemaking Technology: Shine Mural Festival in St Pete has a new twist this year
Photo: Charlie Belcher, Charlie’s World, Fox 13 News
“Company brings wall murals into focus through smart app”
“There is a new way to learn even more about the murals in downtown St. Petersburg, thanks to Pixelstix.
They’ve teamed up with the folks from SHINE Mural Festival to create a digital gallery.
Using a smartphone with the Pixelstix app, visitors to a mural can scan a Pixelstix plaque which will load docent-level information about the mural and the artist onto their device.
Additionally, interactive maps show the locations of the festival’s collection of murals, creating a personalized mural tour… ”
— Charlie Belcher, Fox 13 News
See video to learn about the new technology, meet the founder of Pixelstix and experience Charlie’s World
Read more about the Shine Festival and murals in Tampa Bay Times