This year was a record breaking nesting season for the American Crocodiles at the Turkey Point Power Plant in Homestead. It’s also the same year that the Miami Waterkeepers successfully sued Florida Power and Light forcing the Nuclear Energy Commission to reverse its thirty year license extension which would allow FP&L to operate the facility until 2052. The current license expires in 2032. That gives the people of Miami 10 years to figure out where 1,600 million watts of electricity -- enough power to supply the annual needs of more than 900,000 homes is going to come from.
Kurt Hunter the fictional Special Agent in Charge of Biscayne National Park in my Kurt Hunter Mystery Series, sees the plant on a daily basis. He would agree that the plant has a deleterious effect on the water quality in Biscayne Bay. The unique system of canals used to cool the water from the reactor is a problem effecting both ground water and Biscayne Bay. It is far from the only offender though.
The maze of canals is also the home to a large population of American Crocodiles including the 565 hatchlings tagged this year. It is by far the biggest refuge for the federally protected species.
I spoke in my post: Drill Baby Drill, about the bad rap that nuclear power has. The no-carbon alternative to coal has its issues, but given the chance they can all be solved. There isn’t much that more concrete can’t fix, and that includes containment and disposal of the nuclear waste. Most of Florida’s energy comes from natural gas and coal.
Renewable energy is underdeveloped in Florida, accounting for only 2% of energy production. To replace the 1,600 million watts generated by the Turkey Point plant would require a 5 to 10 acres per mega watt or a whole lot of the Everglades.
The environmental Catch 22 is fascinating and could pit environmental NGOs against each other. My money is on the crocs.