HomeMy WebLinkAboutResolutionCity of Miami
Resolution
Legislation
City Hall
3500 Pan American Drive
Miami, FL 33133
www.miamigov.com
File Number: 1702 Final Action Date: 2/9/2017
A RESOLUTION OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION DIRECTING THE CITY
ATTORNEY TO INTERVENE IN THE ENVIRONMENTAL COST RECOVERY
CLAUSE PROCEEDINGS, DOCKET NO. 170007-El, BEFORE THE FLORIDA
PUBLIC SERVICE COMMISSION, AND AUTHORIZING THE CITY ATTORNEY
TO TAKE ALL FUTURE LEGAL ACTION NECESSARY, INCLUDING
INITIATING ANY AND ALL LITIGATION, IN LAW OR IN EQUITY, TO
CHALLENGE THE REASONABLENESS AND PRUDENCE OF FLORIDA
POWER & LIGHT COMPANY'S PETITION FOR RECOVERY OF ITS
PROJECTED COSTS FOR THE TURKEY POINT COOLING CANAL
MONITORING PLAN PROJECT.
SPONSOR(S): Commissioner Ken Russell
WHEREAS, Florida Power & Light Company ("FPL") owns and operates two (2) nuclear
reactors, Units 3 and 4, at its Turkey Point Power Plant Site ("Turkey Point"); and
WHEREAS, as part of the operation of Turkey Point Units 3 and 4, FPL owns and
operates a cooling canal system ("CCS"), which is an approximately five thousand nine hundred
(5,900) acre network of unlined canals at Turkey Point; and
WHEREAS, FPL constructed the CCS in response to a lawsuit brought by the United
States government to prevent harmful discharges from Turkey Point into Biscayne Bay and
Card Sound; and
WHEREAS, there has been a steady increase in the salinity of the CCS and hypersaline
conditions currently exist within and beneath the CCS; and
WHEREAS, the CCS discharges into the Biscayne Aquifer because the CCS is unlined,
allowing contaminated water from the CCS to leach through the ground; and
WHEREAS, the City's sole source of potable drinking water is provided by Miami -Dade
County's Water and Sewer Department and Miami -Dade County draws its supply of fresh and
potable water from the Biscayne Aquifer; and
WHEREAS, discharges from the CCS has, over time, formed a bubble of concentrated
saltwater, referred to as the "hypersaline plume," within the southern portion of the Biscayne
Aquifer; and
WHEREAS, the hypersaline plume has the potential to impact well fields maintained by
Miami -Dade County's Water and Sewer Department that are located in the vicinity; and
WHEREAS, the movement of the hypersaline plume westward from FPL's CCS
decreases the amount of potable water available; and
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WHEREAS, the City entered administrative proceedings challenging an Administrative
Order ("Order") between FPL and the Florida Department of Environmental Protection ("FDEP")
because the Order was outside of FDEP's legal authority, the Order violated the Power Plant
Siting Act (Section 403.511, Florida Statutes), the Order only required FPL to abate the spread
of the hypersaline plume and did not provide objective criteria to determine the effectiveness of
FPL's actions, and the Order implicitly authorized the continued discharge of contaminants from
the CCS; and
WHEREAS, an Administrative Law Judge issued a Recommended Order favorable to
the City and its residents, however, FDEP rejected the Recommended Order and the City
appealed FDEP's actions to the Third District Court of Appeal; and
WHEREAS, during the pendency of the City's appeal, FPL and FDEP entered into a
Consent Order that delineated numerous monitoring and remediation requirements to cease,
reduce, and halt the spread and westward migration of the hypersaline plume, and provided
objective criteria and milestones to evaluate the effectiveness of FPL's actions, and specifically
superseded the Administrative Order, thereby mooting the City's appeal to the Third District
Court of Appeal; and
WHEREAS, the Environmental Cost Recovery Clause ("ECRC"), Section 366.8255,
Florida Statutes, allows an electric utility company to petition the Florida Public Service
Commission ("FPSC") to recover, through its base rates, prudently incurred environmental
compliance costs; and
WHEREAS, on September 6, 2016, FPL petitioned the FPSC in the 2016 ECRC docket
to recover through the ECRC its projected 2017 costs for the Turkey Point Cooling Canal
Monitoring Plan ("TPCCMP") project; and
WHEREAS, on November 22, 2016, the FPSC granted FPL's request to defer issues
related to the recovery of FPL's projected 2017 costs for the TPCCMP project; and
WHEREAS, on November 22, 2016, the FPSC also allowed FPL to recover
$73,776,441.00 of Operations and Maintenance ("O&M") expenses and $1,449,647 in capital
investment, subject to a refund in the 2017 ECRC docket, associated with the TPCCMP project;
and
WHEREAS, FPL estimates it will incur approximately $206 million in O&M and capital
compliance costs from 2016 through 2026 associated with its activities implementing the
TPCCMP project; and
WHEREAS, if FPL's annual petitions for cost recovery are granted, FPL will be
authorized to pass the costs, an estimated $206 million, associated with remediating FPL's
contamination of the Biscayne Aquifer to its customers;
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE COMMISSION OF THE CITY OF
MIAMI, FLORIDA:
Section 1. The recitals and findings contained in the Preamble to this Resolution are
adopted by reference and incorporated as fully set forth in this Section.
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Section 2. The City Attorney is directed to intervene in the current ECRC docket, Docket
No. 170007-El, before the FPSC to challenge the reasonableness and prudence of the
environmental costs incurred by FPL with the implementation of the TPCCMP.
Section 3. The City Attorney is further authorized to take all future legal action
necessary, including initiating any and all action, in law or in equity, to challenge the
reasonableness and prudence of the environmental costs incurred by FPL with the
implementation of the TPCCMP.
Section 4. This Resolution shall become effective immediately upon its adoption and
signature of the Mayor.
APPROVED AS TO FORM AND CORRECTNESS:
1 If the Mayor does not sign this Resolution, it shall become effective at the end of ten (10) calendar days
from the date it was passed and adopted. If the Mayor vetoes this Resolution, it shall become effective
immediately upon override of the veto by the City Commission.
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