“It gave me the resources to meet the people I need to meet outside the School of the Environment, and it gave me the confidence, academically, to feel like I was capable of taking those positions,” Shenefelt said. “The most meaningful part was becoming president of genCLEO, because that is where I achieved the most hands-on environmental policy work.”
Tracking from the nonprofit group The CLEO Institute found that Donalds has received $1.79 million in campaign contributions from Florida’s major power utilities while in office. He is the state’s second-highest recipient.
Florida is one of only four states where the law expressly prohibits you from buying energy from anyone other than your government-assigned monopoly utility.
"Solar is cheaper, and you're taking out the fuel cost,” Glickman said. “We could be doing so much better if there was a push to take advantage of the sunshine."
“Duke Energy gets 90% of its electricity from burning gas or coal,” Maguire said. “They are an extremely dirty and polluting utility, and they essentially get to do that polluting for free because it’s the young people today that are going to deal with a warmer environment and stronger storms and more flooding in the decades to come.”
By rapidly doubling or tripling its solar capacity, OUC could make burning coal unnecessary. Unlike fossil fuels, solar power has no fuel cost, helping protect OUC customers from the price swings that come with natural gas and coal.
"It was really important to us for this to not feel like it could be an entity influenced by outside forces and it would really be a voter-led utility," said Raymer Maguire, who works on campaigns at The CLEO Institute, a Florida climate change advocacy group.
“In 2023, JEA claimed a new methane gas plant was the most affordable option for Jacksonville’s energy needs. Just two years later, projected costs have increased 139%, and an independent analysis found the project could cost customers an additional $2.5 billion over its lifetime, plus roughly $1 billion in health impacts from pollution,” said Susan Glickman, vice president of Policy and Partnerships at The CLEO Institute.
“We keep mopping the floor of this overflowing bathtub,” Yoca Arditi-Rocha, CEO of The CLEO Institute, said, “and we're cleaning it with taxpayers' dollars.” She’d like to see state legislators turn off the tap.
“In 2023, JEA claimed a new methane gas plant was the most affordable option for Jacksonville’s energy needs. Just two years later, projected costs have increased 139%, and an independent analysis found the project could cost customers an additional $2.5 billion over its lifetime, plus roughly $1 billion in health impacts from pollution,” said Susan Glickman, Vice President of Policy and Partnerships at The CLEO Institute.
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