Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles. The nonprofit committees were set up by political consultants working for FPL, who had consulted with Silagy, according to reporting by the Orlando Sentinel, the Miami Herald and the Florida Times-Union. Florida Supreme Court ruling against FPL on the matter. Real-time updates and all local stories you want right in the palm of your hand. The documents also showed that Silagy coordinated with the political consultants to steer campaign contributions made through nonprofits in past elections. You can keep up with her work on her site Environment.co. 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. The company was trading well above its peers before news that Silagy would leave his post this month and depart the company in mid-May. The history of scandals by FPL and parent company NextEra ushers in a wave of concern about what the future of clean energy and future sustainability programs could look like. Consumers for Energy Fairness own expenditures have gone to Republican candidates and Republican-affiliated PACs that have also received funding from the states utilities, like Jobs for Florida and Floridians for Economic Freedom. I reported this story with Tracy Wholf, coordinating climate producer for ABC News, and we also worked together on a special episode of ABCs podcast Start Here that delves into the nuanced concerns on both sides of the conflict. His coverage deals with the business side of the clean-energy transition and he writes ICNs Inside Clean Energy newsletter. Screen for heightened risk individual and entities globally to help uncover hidden risks in business relationships and human networks. I believe that NextEra is a respectable developer, said Jeremy Welch, testifying at the hearing on behalf of a union that supports the project. 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. Mary Ellen Klas: meklas@miamiherald.com and @MaryEllenKlas. Rodriguez has pleaded guilty and agreed to cooperate with prosecutors. His political committee, Veterans for Conservative Principles, received nearly $13,000 from NextEra and $5,000 from Duke. The second Defendant, Cottonwood Wind . Despite its position as a renewable energy generator, the company has been shrouded in controversy - the most recent of which has to do with Florida Power & Light (FPL), one of the companies operating beneath them. Watchdog exposing the attacks on renewable energy and countering misinformation by fossil fuel interests, Artiles close relationship with NextEra Energy and Florida Power & Light included NASCAR perks, campaign contributions. 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. ICN provides award-winning climate coverage free of charge and advertising. NextEras executives and shareholders have reason to worry, but its too soon to know how much. There is no word on whether the internal investigationaddressed efforts associated with Operation Ginger., Copyright 2021 US TIMES NOW Cream Magazine by Themebeez, NextEra Energy (NE) is currently under investigation by the Florida Department of Law, SSD enabled fast speed data processing in Europe based VPS Server Hosting from TheServerHost, Ace DJ Artist talent DJ Nitin(NG) aka Nitin Gaikwad is Gaining Global Popularity As An Wedding DJ, Spotify is introducing a new and improved plus button in place of its heart icon, Palantir will eliminate 75 jobs or about 2% of the employees, Dr. Malda Aldaoudi consider Lifted Eyebrows and Fox Eye Lift as the latest trends. A day later, Public Service Commission chairperson Andrew Fay responded with an unequivocal rejection of their request, saying that the commission has a long-standing prohibition on the inclusion of lobbying and other expenses, which have been determined to bring no benefit to ratepayers, among the expenses to be recovered through rates charged to the public for service., Fay added that when FPL filed its rate request, the appropriate auditing function was conducted during the commissions consideration of the most recent FPL rate case, and the audit produced no evidence that FPL used, or was intending to use, ratepayer funds for the private benefit of the companys lobbying, campaigning or marketing affairs.. In Florida, DeSantis May End the Battle Over Rooftop Solar With a Pen Stroke - Corruption by Cops, In Florida, DeSantis May End the Battle Over Rooftop Solar With a Pen Stroke - Earth2, Utility executive contributions surge in Minnesota state senate race - Energy and Policy Institute, Amid Connections to Ongoing Election Scandals, NextEra Pours Millions into Floridas 2022 Election Cycle - Energy and Policy Institute, Southwest Gas aims to make customers pay for its American Gas Association membership dues. Its video library also archives coverage for later viewing. Artiles has pleaded not guilty to the charges. FPL has for decades spent millions on lobbying and election influence at every level of politics in Florida, giving it and its parent company, NextEra Energy, immense influence over the states politicians. On Tuesday, it became clear that Wall Street had noticed the stories. An internal NextEra investigation found no wrongdoing, executives on the company's latest earnings call said, adding that Silagy's departure was unrelated to any controversies. It depends on how trustworthy community members find NextEra in the coming months and how that support affects any proposed clean energy legislation. (Reporting by Laila Kearney; Editing by Josie Kao). It was also announced that Silagy, the president and CEO of FPL, will take on the added responsibility of chairman of FPL. (Heres the hearing transcript.). Write CSS OR LESS and hit save. NextEra Energy Newsroom. 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 companys political giving. Sources contacted were unsure the degree to which Governor DeSantis was aware of the FPLpayments and the alleged illegitimate child. NextEra Energy is on the receiving end of a proposed class action lawsuit in which a Nebraska homeowner alleges the electricity provider's wind turbines placed near residential communities are a "nuisance" and effectively deprive homeowners of the use and enjoyment of their property. 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. 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. Internal documents obtained by the Sentinel show that Silagy used a pseudonym email, Theodore Hayes, to communicate with consultant Jeff Pitts, who controlled Grow United, with the memos noting that one goal was to minimize all public reporting of entities and activities.. 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. The energy company that runs the Florida Power & Light utility, as. Reuters, the news and media division of Thomson Reuters, is the worlds largest multimedia news provider, reaching billions of people worldwide every day. China: A World Powerhouse . FPL has also donated $20,000 to Perrys political committee, Building a Prosperous Florida, while TECO has donated $2,500. FPL engaged with dark money political committees to keep their profits safe in the wake of proposed legislation. Simpson, a longtime beneficiary of FPL political giving, may have spent NextEra-originatedfunds, with FPL knowledge, to pay off individuals with knowledge of his illegitimate child inwhat was reportedly known internally as Operation Ginger. The goal of these efforts appearto be to prevent the public from learning about the Senate Presidents indiscretions prior to hisascension to the top position in the state Legislature. [], [] has not shied away from shady political dealings in the past. I know theres been a lot of back and forth and perhaps theres a lot of context to provide there. Dumoulin-Smith is director of U.S. Power, Utilities and Alternative Energy Equity Research for Bank of American Securities. NextEra Energy Inc., the largest U.S. utility by market cap and one of the world's top solar and wind power producers, has been called out for never declaring a net-zero emissions target like many other major power utilities have done. $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. In California, Wait Lists for EV Rebates Are Long and Some Programs Have Shut Down: California needs to ramp up sales of electric vehicles to take on climate change and reduce air pollution, but consumers are having trouble navigating the states incentives and rebates, as Nadia Lopez reports for CalMatters. The firm, which also includes consultants Matt Mitchell and Michael Sheehan, came under intense scrutiny for their role in Floridas redistricting and were required to turn in over 1,800 pages of records as part of a lawsuit filed by Fair District voting-rights groups in 2013. Bradleys political committee, Women Building the Future, has taken $47,500 from investor-owned utilities, with $12,500 coming from NextEra Energy and $35,000 from TECO. Artiles is facing several felony charges for allegedly recruiting and paying an auto-parts dealer who shared the same surname as the Democratic incumbent in the race for Senate District 37 to run as a no-party candidate and confuse voters and influence the outcome of the 2020 election, according to his arrest affidavit. NextEra was a traditional utility company when it was started in 1925. Description. 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. Since then, the legislature replaced the previous leader of that office, J.R. Kelly, with a former utility lobbyist, Richard Gentry. Consultants who control Grow United billed FPL for over $3 million before the entity started moving funds around for the election scheme. This story was originally published January 27, 2022, 6:00 AM. Consumers for Energy Fairness does not have a website or any public presence, but it spent over $5,000 with the public affairs firm McNicholas & Associates on beverages and food in 2019. We know about FPLs actions thanks to reporting by the Orlando Sentinel, Miami Herald and The Florida Times-Union, some of it in partnership with the nonprofit Floodlight. NextEra Energy is the largest generator of renewable energy in the United States and possibly the world. NextEras fourth-quarter earnings call with financial analysts, Robo announced he will be retiring from his position on March 1, PSC Executive Director Braulio Baez responded, Support my work with a digital subscription, Exclusive: Last grass lot on Miamis Brickell Avenue sells for $6 million. Build the strongest argument relying on authoritative content, attorney-editor expertise, and industry defining technology. Chevron Corp. Chief Executive Michael Wirth on Tuesday said a consolidation between the five top Western oil producers remains a possibility but would face regulatory hurdles. I also saw how opponents of renewable energy development rarely miss an opportunity to sow distrust in the developer, with talk of how wind or solar would be an eyesore and potentially harm property values. McClure also worked closely with utility front group Energy Fairness, as reported by the Energy and Policy Institute. The Office of Public Counsel, which advocates on behalf of Florida utility customers, also stated that it was a net benefit in that same workshop. The legislators responded on Jan. 10, saying they considered the commissions review incomplete given the news stories. A former NextEra colleague of Pimentels, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said Pimentel was a straightforward, fact-based and driven coworker with a calm temperament. Pomerantz said the goal of moving to zero emissions is a very good one, but he questions the feasibility of using hydrogen as a major part of generating electricity. "I don't expect much of a change, leaving aside all of the stuff going on with the outgoing CEO," Patterson said. Since the publication of that article, McClure has taken an additional $8,500 in political contributions from Florida investor-owned utilities; $1,000 from NextEra Energy to his campaign directly, and $7,500 from Duke Energy to McClures political committee, Conservative Florida. 11/22/2021. 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. So What Is Community Solar? NextEra's renewable arm, NextEra Energy Resources, had about 5,000 employees by the end of 2019, not counting construction jobs for new projectsinformation the company doesn't disclose . 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. Enforcement for funneling money through a partisan political committee to a ghost candidatescheme that has already resulted in felony charges against five political operatives. NextEra Energy sets industry-leading Real Zero goal to eliminate carbon emissions from its operations, leverage low-cost renewables to drive energy affordability for customers. On Monday, PSC Executive Director Braulio Baez responded that its not the PSCs job to answer those questions and suggested that the questionable expenses come from shareholder funds, not ratepayers. Browse an unrivalled portfolio of real-time and historical market data and insights from worldwide sources and experts. History of Power: Dominion Energy's Fluid Transition. By continuing to use this site, you accept this policy. Watchdog exposing the attacks on renewable energy and countering misinformation by fossil fuel interests. Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License by Energy and Policy Institute. The races for Senate District 9 and 39 followed the same pattern. Please support our work with a digital subscription. They asked if the PSCs review was enough. A similar sounding utility front group, Energy Fairness, is a client of McNicholas & Associates. NextEra Energy is the largest generator of renewable energy in the United States and possibly the world. The company was implicated in a ghost candidate scheme in Florida that ousted a climate advocate from state office. 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