NextEra, parent of Florida Power and Light, is buying HECO/MECO’s parent company HEI. The deal requires PUC and federal approval. They’ll spin off American Savings.
NextEra wants to create the controversial interisland cable and create large solar and wind installations. NextEra has nuclear holdings.
Nextera owns Florida Power & Light and has been dismantling solar incentives. According to Henry Curtis, it is not the “renewable” company that it advertises itself as.
According to Henry Curtis:
“Joseph (“Joe”) Timothy Kelliher is NextEra Energy’s Executive Vice President – Federal Regulatory Affairs.
Kelliher was Republican Counsel for the U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee (1995 – 2000), served on the Bush/Cheney Presidential Transition Team (2000-01) and served as the Senior Policy Advisor for the U.S. Department of Energy (2001 – 2003).
In 2003 Vice President Dick Cheney spearheaded the drive to get Kelliher appointed to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). He served six years including four as Chair.
“During the appointment process there were charges that he enjoyed too cozy a relationship with industry lobbyists and had, as a member of Vice President Richard Cheney’s energy task force, helped write President Bush’s National Energy Policy in such a way that would be financially beneficial to energy companies at the expense of consumers.”
“Mr.Kelliher was ‘put in place’ by the electrical industry to head FERC when they thought they could ram dozens of long distance, high voltage transmission lines through state siting processes using their new 2005 Energy Policy Act. …Mr. Kelliher, true to the revolving door practices that seem to govern federal regulation in the US at this time, is now the chief lobbyist for a company called NextEra, the largest developer of land based wind farms.”
A provision in the Energy Policy Act (2005) “gives the U.S. Department of Energy the authority to study and designate national energy corridors as ‘severely congested.’ It also gives the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, an agency that regulates interstate energy projects, so-called ‘backstop authority’ to permit projects in those corridors if a state has withheld approval for more than one year. The provision hasn’t fast-tracked permitting of the most crucial projects, as supporters had hoped.”
NextEra Energy drew up a plan to fast-track the federal transmission line permitting process. The Obama administration, the National Resources Defense Council and many energy developers embraced the plan.
Many states, regional organizations, environmental and cultural groups greeted with the plan with skepticism.
The New York Times reported in 2011 that “NextEra Executive Vice President Joseph Kelliher, a former FERC chairman, is leading the campaign for the new strategy.”
Curtis previously wrote about NextEra’s involvement in the interisland cable:
In September of 2013 “the County of Maui, Maui Tomorrow and NextEra Energy held a public meeting on the proposed inter-island High Voltage Transmission Line that is proposed to connect Maui and Oahu. ”
“NextEra Energy owns Florida Power & Light (FPL). At the state of the millennium, FLP was almost entirely powered by petroleum, coal, gas and nuclear power. FLP applied for expansion of its coal operations but was rebuked in 2007 by regulators. Thereafter FLP re-branding itself as “a leader in clean energy.” The company is seeking to expand its nuclear energy facilities. Beyond Florida, NextEra is moving aggressively into solar and wind.”
Curtis talks about NextEra’s SLAP suit:
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A strategic lawsuit against public participation (SLAPP) is a lawsuit that is intended to censor, intimidate, and silence critics by burdening them with the cost of a legal defense until they abandon their criticism or opposition
On Friday, January 4, 2013 the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources authorized NextEra to chop down a tree containing a bald eagle nest even though there are only 56active bald eagle nests in Southern Ontario. The public was not informed that the permit had been issued. Early the next morning the offending tree was chopped down to accommodate a wind access road.
Esther Wrightman maintains two web sites and a YouTube channel to lampoon NextEra. The destruction of the bald eagle nest was filmed and posted on Youtube. A second video was posted which included a NextEra spokesman stating that “the authorization we got from the ministry of natural resources was to destroy this nest.” The videos used a parody of the NextEra logo, altering it to read NextTerror.
On May 1, 2013 NextEra filed a lawsuit asserting that Esther Wrightman had misused its logo and libeled the company. Furthermore, NextEra assert that Wrightman is a “competitor insofar as she is seeking donations in order to divert business from NextEra to other energy-producing businesses in Ontario.”
NextEra has market capitalization of $32 billion while Esther Wrightman is a 32 year old mother who works part-time for Wrightman Alpines, her parents small mail-order nursery business. Her husband is on disability. They rent their house for $825 per month and drive a 2001 Toyota Echo. Its speedometer is on its third 100,000 miles.
The May 1, 2013 NextEra Statement of Claim
“NextEra welcomes fair, critical input from community members with regard to its operations and is always ready to engage in constructive discussions. That being said, the Nature of NextEra’s business also means that the trust and goodwill of the broader communities in which it operates is of paramount importance. As such, NextEra must take appropriate steps to ensure that its intellectual property is not misused for the purpose of spreading false and damaging representations.”
“The Defendant’s use of the Offending Material was also in support of her own business interests within the meaning of the Competition Act, that is the raising of funds through the Websites to oppose the development of wind energy in Ontario.”
“NextEra supports the speech rights of the Defendant. The only request NextEra has ever made of her is that she cease distorting, mutilating or otherwise modifying NextEra’s corporate names and logos. NextEra has not asked the Defendant to cease her advocacy activities.”
On May 27, 2013 Wrightman filed her Statement of Defense.
Local residents referred to NextEra as “NextTerror” before the second “Parodied Image” was ever posted on the Defendants websites.
NextEra became notorious for making ‘booking errors’ in mid 2012. They advertised and booked the Adelaide Wind Energy Centre meeting in a school that was closed for the summer; then advertise and booked it in a township office that was too small. This meeting moved five times before it was finally held and the mess-ups were written about and published in local newspapers. The Plaintiff then advertised, but forgot to book a community centre in Ailsa Craig in the summer of 2012 for the Bornish Wind Energy Centre, and again in February 2013 for the Jericho Wind Energy Centre. The confusion this caused in the community pointed again to the “Errors” this company makes, regularly. These facts were published and NextEra became notorious for making booking errors.
The Defendant submits NextEra has brought a state of fear, terror of invasion, worry, anxiety, and destruction to her community, its residents’ health and wildlife, with their wind turbine developments and their methods of implementation. People have fled their homes before and after their homes have been surrounded by the Plaintiff’s wind developments. This is due to the negative effects to their family’s health, their animal’s health, quality of life and their property. They have no other recourse but to flee.
NextEra has been excessively aggressive with forcing people and municipalities to sign agreements and easements. If landowners refuse to sign easements, NextEra has threatened to “take legal action” on them. Expropriation is a very real concern of the public, as the Plaintiff has indicated it will go that route if the land is needed for their projects.”