as reported by Miami Herald last December. This is not the first cycle that a well-funded third party candidate has upset a campaign by a close margin, and its not the first where those candidates have had at least some connection to Artiles and Florida utilities. The energy company that runs the Florida Power & Light utility, as. The Senate District 37 scandal was one of three races in Florida in the 2020 cycle that followed a nearly identical pattern: A close race, an unknown third party candidate to siphon some of the votes, and campaign mailers attacking the Democratic candidate, all paid for by new, out-of-state political committees. Download. 11/22/2021. All three districts received slightly modified versions of the same mailer, which seemed to target liberal-leaning voters in an apparent effort to siphon those votes away from the Democratic candidate. Matrix spent big money on advertising for another candidate with the same last name as Rodrguez to split the vote. John W. Ketchum Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer NextEra Energy, Inc. Chairman Florida Power & Light Company READ MORE Armando Pimentel President and Chief Executive Officer Fargo, ND, USA / The Mighty 790 KFGO | KFGO. As the biggest player in the game, investors, politicians, and civilians rely on NextEra to play a major role in encouraging and supporting clean energy legislation. Public Lands in the US Have Long Been Disposed to Fossil Fuel Companies. The 145-mile (233-kilometer), nearly US$1 billion transmission line, known as New England Clean Energy Connect, broke ground in February after nearly three . Write CSS OR LESS and hit save. They asked if the PSCs review was enough. The investigation around Artiles and the Senate District 37 race is ongoing. Other stories about the energy transition to take note of this week: Deep in the Democrats Climate Bill, Analysts See More Wins for Clean Energy Than Gifts for Fossil Fuel Business: U.S. Senate leaders have included plenty of favors for the fossil fuel industry in the big climate package they hope to advance this week, but most analysts have concluded these concessions amount to consolation prizes in a deal where clean energy is the clear winner. Robo responded: Sure, Julian, I think you know, on some of the Florida political headlines I think what Id like to say on that is pretty simple., He said that when the company received the report and and those allegations that have been in the press, we conducted a very extensive and thorough investigation that included looking at company financial records and include looking at everyone who was named and its company emails. He said those involved all provided access to their personal emails and texts to us as part of that investigation., He concluded: The bottom line is we found no evidence of any issues at all, any illegality, or any wrongdoing on the part of FPL or any of its employees., Robo added that he felt very good about the investigation that we did, and I feel very good that there is, you know, no basis to any of these allegations. The Florida Legislative Session begins January 11, 2022. Enforcement for funneling money through a partisan political committee to a ghost candidatescheme that has already resulted in felony charges against five political operatives. Watch the Florida Legislature live: The Florida Channel, a public affairs programming service funded by the Legislature, livestreams coverage at thefloridachannel.org. A lot will depend on how FPL conducts itself moving forward. In the race for Perrys seat in 2018, an organization called Broken Promises donated over $130,000 to the political committee Friends of Charles Goston.. Veterans for Conservative Principles treasurer was Dave Ramba, whose firm Ramba Consulting Group has lobbied for FPL for years. Bradley has taken $52,500 from Florida investor-owned utilities, between her campaign account and her political committee. He started by questioning my premise that NextEra has a good reputation while its subsidiary, FPL, has taken some serious hits. Shares of NextEra sank late last month by nearly 9%, their biggest daily drop in more than two years, after the company abruptly announced Silagy would retire under the threat of a formal investigation by the Federal Election Commission into the company's political giving. Mexican developer wants to build condos on the land starting at $3 million apiece. Goston claimed he did not know or care where the money supporting his candidacy came from, according to the Gainesville Sun. racial slurs directed at black members of the Florida Legislature. He came to ICN in 2018 after a nine-year tenure at The Columbus Dispatch, where he covered the business of energy. Gostons campaign was largely funded by Republicans with ties to Perry, as reported by the Gainesville Sun. He pointed to some of NextEras conduct outside of Florida, like its opposition to a power line in Maine that would have delivered renewable energy from Canada and harmed the market for a nuclear plant co-owned by the company. The closest NextEra has come is a promise to reduce its carbon emissions rate (i.e., emissions per unit of energy) 67% below 2005 levels by 2025. But it will be take more than a change of guard for the utility to shake off the scandals that took place under Silagy, said Schafer. "I don't expect much of a change, leaving aside all of the stuff going on with the outgoing CEO," Patterson said. Mary Ellen Klas is the state Capitol bureau chief for the Miami Herald, where she covers government and politics and focuses on investigative and accountability reporting. Contacted for a response, a NextEra spokesman did not address the issues at FPL or the potential for blowback for the parent company, but he did point to recent comments from Kirk Crews, NextEras chief financial officer. For example, Richard Alexander, who lives in Cullman, Alabama, not only chairs Grow United, he also has been tied to groups that were created to promote the agenda of Floridas powerful sugar and electric utilities industries, according to the Orlando Sentinel. I dont expect much of a change, leaving aside all of the stuff going on with the outgoing CEO, Patterson said. Date. In 2017, Perry voted in support of NextEras exploratory fracking legislation while serving on the Communications, Energy and Public Utilities Committee chaired by Artiles. This effort takes a lot of resources to gather and update. Were working hard to bring you the latest news from the states legislative session. Both South Florida mailers for Alex Rodriguez and Celso Alfonso and Central Florida mailers for Jestine Iannotti featured identical text, focused on fixing health care, fighting climate change, and speaking truth to power. Florida members of Congress have formally requested Attorney General Merrick Garland open an expansive corruption investigation to look into the source of potentially illegal funds used by Artiles. NextEra, TECO, and AIF did not respond to a request for comment. His coverage deals with the business side of the clean-energy transition and he writes ICNs Inside Clean Energy newsletter. FPLs response as well as the statements provided for the docket by the staff involved in the rate case audit, leave many questions and concerns for our constituents and Floridians at large, the legislators wrote. In one case, one of those three committees got $115,000 from an Associated Industries-controlled group and immediately paid $104,909 to Alvarado Strategies, the Sentinel reported. Despite climate action often being frustrated by Republican leaders in Congress and at the local level, states with Republican governors and a majority of Republican state legislators are leading the nation in solar and wind. NextEra Energy is a total fraud, and veritably a criminal entity. We take all allegations seriously, and weve found no evidence that either FPL or our employees had any involvement in, financially supported, or directed any third party to support ghost candidates during last years Florida election cycle, he said. FPLs relationship with two political nonprofit committees Grow United and Lets Preserve the American Dream has come under recent scrutiny as part of a criminal investigation by the Miami-Dade County state attorney into a ghost candidate scandal. Banter reportedly followed Simpsons orders, using the FPL-originated funds to pay FrankArtiles, a lobbyist who was indicted in the scheme last year. The scandal ballooned last week when three more arrests were made, including of Ben Paris, the chair of the Seminole County (FL) Republican Executive Committee. When asked by a Bank of AmericaSecurities analyst on a recent earnings call, NextEra CEO James Robo explained that he orderedFPL CEO Eric Silagy to turn over emails and other written communication, primarily focused onFLs work with two political committees: Grow United and Lets Preserve the AmericanDream, both tied to Simpson. Utilities gave nearly $2 million to five committees either linked to or controlled by AIF in the 2020 election cycle, over 20% of their total giving for the reporting period. Mary Ellen Klas: meklas@miamiherald.com and @MaryEllenKlas. He also was instrumental in the 2019 political campaign against the so-called energy choice petition drive, which was opposed by FPL and other utilities. NEW YORK (Reuters) - The new head of Florida Power & Light (FP&L) has at least one important objective above and beyond running U.S. power giant NextEra's crown jewel utility, analysts say: stay out of the headlines. Some critics of Florida Power & Light, like Alissa Jean Schafer of watchdog group Energy Policy Institute, have welcomed Pimentels uneventful background. On Tuesday, it became clear that Wall Street had noticed the stories. The most comprehensive solution to manage all your complex and ever-expanding tax and compliance needs. Our #1 newsletter delivers the weeks climate and energy news our original stories and top headlines from around the web. The company, which has its main office in Spain, is hinting at job cuts, as Isla Binnie reports for Reuters. Florida Power & Light Co - FLPTL.PK - DELISTED, Dow and X-energy to build U.S. Gulf Coast nuclear demonstration plant, Oil slips as rising supplies balance Chinese demand hopes, Reporting by Laila Kearney; Editing by Josie Kao, Exclusive: Biden administration to move on Midwest ethanol-blended gasoline rule this week -sources, Greta Thunberg detained by Norway police during pro-Sami protest, Western US cities vote to move ahead with novel nuclear power plant, Chevron CEO does not rule out consolidation among oil majors, How Elon Musk has missed his targets on delivering affordable cars, Dollar Tree sees weak 2023 profit as costs mount, shoppers curb spending, Tesla's new Mexico plant could create up to 6,000 jobs - foreign ministry official, Exclusive news, data and analytics for financial market professionals. The bill also creates a framework to add substantial fees to solar customers, charging them for an alleged cost-shift to non-solar customers. They cited the utilities expert, Karl Rabagos testimony in the rate case, in which he noted that FPL spent millions of dollars in dues paid to certain politically active trade associations and cited the PSCs own documents in the rate case. The messy business of being 'green'. The state senate districts were 9, 37, and 39. There are two civil lawsuits in the mix as well. Some of thislike turning a news website into a mouthpiece for the utility or surveilling a newspaper columnist in the hopes of catching him doing something embarrassingsounds like the stuff of conspiracy theories. Access unmatched financial data, news and content in a highly-customised workflow experience on desktop, web and mobile. The reporting also found that the same FPL consultants have been involved in setting up front groups to advance FPLs political agenda, and paid activists to promote FPLs interests. Community Solar Is About to Get a Surge in Federal Funding. NextEras executives and shareholders have reason to worry, but its too soon to know how much. Data Targeting is one of the top political consulting firms for the Florida Republican Party. Definition & Eligibility, Norwegian Plans Pricing Move That Royal Caribbean, Carnival Might Follow. 10 Takeaways from the IEA's Newest World Energy Outlook. They then asked the PSC to supply answers to a series of questions about FPLs political spending that included: How was the $14 million FPL spent in 2018 on a nonprofit called Mothers for Moderation used and was any of it passed to other organizations at FPLs direction or with FPLs knowledge?. Sources contacted were unsure the degree to which Governor DeSantis was aware of the FPLpayments and the alleged illegitimate child. $5,000 from investor-owned utilities went to the campaign account directly: $1,000 from NextEra, $2,000 from Duke, and $2,000 from TECO. This story was originally published January 27, 2022, 6:00 AM. 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