Investigating Power
A solar power question on the November ballot in Florida has been described by environmentalists as a wolf in sheep’s clothing that could actually harm solar development in the Sunshine State.
Florida’s biggest electric utility companies are backing a proposed constitutional amendment that, the campaign says, “promotes solar in the Sunshine State.”
The Consumer Energy Alliance, a front group for fossil fuel companies and utilities, released a report last month attacking policies that support solar power.
Few efforts to change the Florida Constitution have been as deceitful as Amendment 1, the solar power measure on the November ballot that is about everything but expanding solar energy.
The political committee behind Amendment 1 on solar energy has scrubbed from its social media platforms nearly every reference to the James Madison Institute after revelations that the group’s policy director bragged in a leaked audio recording that the utility industry is using the amendment to deceive the public into thinking it is a pro-solar initiative.
If there was any doubt that Amendment 1 is an anti-solar measure designed to appear as the opposite in order to deceive voters, a recording released this week makes it clear.
An 84-year-old voter from Aventura, called the Miami Herald Tallahassee bureau Friday with a question: “If I’ve already cast my vote by mail, can I change it?”
Democracy, Environment, Koch, SPN
The solar-power amendment on Florida’s ballot is a slick, oily fraud. Promoted as a way to expand solar energy and protect residents who want it, Amendment 1 would do just the opposite.
Amendment 1 is written in pro-solar language, but it is backed by the state’s utilities and opponents say it will halt rooftop solar in the Sunshine State.
Solar amendment 1 is once again in the center of a controversy.