News & Articles
Visit this page for links to current news about natural gas and energy issues, as well as news and information about the Floridian Natural Gas Storage Company LLC.
THUMB'S UP: A Good Fit for Indiantown
TCPalm.com/Stuart News - Staff Editorial
May 10, 2008
Indiantown took a giant step this week toward acquiring a new major industry.
The 4-1 decision by the Martin County Commission to approve a master site plan for Floridian Natural Gas Storage Co. clears the way for Floridian to proceed with its plan to build a liquid natural gas storage facility.
County Commissioner Lee Weberman said the project was "too good ... to pass up." He's right.
The construction of two storage tanks — each 175-feet high — will create 300 jobs in this rural community. Thirty full-time positions will be staffed upon completion in 2012.
Moreover, the facility will be built in the industrial park on the 155-acre Ameristeel Superfund site — not the easiest piece of commercial property for which to find a suitor.
Safety concerns raised by some opponents are exaggerated. Natural gas is not explosive in a liquid state, and the natural gas industry has a strong safety record.
Floridian Natural Gas Storage Company wins approval to build gas storage facility in Indiantown
NEWS RELEASE
May 8, 2008
The Martin County (FL) Board of County Commissioners voted Tuesday to approve Floridian Natural Gas Storage Company’s request to develop two liquefied natural gas storage tanks in southern Florida, near Indiantown in Martin County.
Nineteen Indiantown and Martin County residents spoke in support of the project during the public hearing that led to the commissioners’ decision. “The Floridian Natural Gas Storage facility is part of our bright future,” said Scott Watson, chairman of the Indiantown/Western Martin County Chamber of Commerce. “Indiantown looks forward to this project, we need this project, the state needs natural gas storage, we need the jobs,” he added.
“This is too good of a project to pass up,” said Commissioner Lee Weberman before voting in to approve the facility. The commissioner’s sentiment was echoed by Business Development Board Executive Director Ron Bunch who said “It makes a lot of sense for the county and for Indiantown.”
All necessary state and local approvals needed to build the eight-billion-cubic-foot gas storage facility have been received by Floridian Natural Gas Storage Company. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) has issued a draft Environmental Impact Statement, finding no significant negative impact, as part of the agency’s review of the proposed facility. FGS expects to receive its 7(c) certificate from the FERC this summer.
“Pending FERC approval, we hope to break ground on the facility in the first quarter of 2009 and be ready to operate by 2012,” said Brad Williams, one of the company’s principals. “The people of Indiantown and Martin County have been terrific to work with and we look forward to many, many years together -- as neighbors, associates and friends,” he said.
The Floridian project will provide natural gas storage services to utilities and other Florida users and benefit Florida consumers by enhancing system reliability, contributing to hurricane hardening efforts, reducing utility fuel costs and reducing green house gas emissions by reducing the burning of fuel oil.
InDios Urges Support for Floridian Natural Gas Storage Initiatives
April 18, 2008
"This project offers Indiantown's people a chance for a better future. The tax benefits can be used to provide human services in Indiantown, but the thousands of jobs Floridian's three-year construction period will create are even more important.
Even those who cannot participate as construction workers will benefit as new service jobs will be created throughout Indiantown to support those working construction on the plant. And Floridian is also working with Indian River Community College to put together a welding training program that will offer a bright and prosperous future for those who participate and gain skills and experience to earn good incomes as certified welders. One good income such as this can improve the lives of many.
Please help support the people of Indiantown by voting to approve the Floridian Natural Gas Storage company's project."
Sister Teresa Auad, O.P.
InDios, Inc.
Click here to read Sister Teresa Auad's letter (PDF; 212K)
Business Development Board of Martin County Support
April 17, 2008
"... we feel that is is important that all entities involved in the process contribute their efforts to expedite the successful implementation of this operation."
Ronald Bunch, Executive Director
Business Development Board of Martin County, Inc.
Click here to read the letter (PDF; 275K)
FGS Gains Support of Indiantown-Western Martin County Chamber of Commerce
April 9, 2008
"On behalf of the Board of Directors of the Indiantown-Western Martin County Chamber of Commerce, I write in support of the proposed project as one that will be extremely important to our community and it's long-term economic well being."
Allon R.Fish, IOM/AOM, President/CEO
Indiantown-Western Martin County Chamber of Commerce
Click here to read the full letter (PDF; 46K)
Targa Resources, Inc. Announces Definitive Agreement to Assume Warburg Pincus’ Interest in FGS
April 8, 2008
Targa Resources, Inc. announced today that it has completed
the assumption of Warburg Pincus’ interest in Floridian Natural Gas Storage Company, LLC
(“FGS”). The transfer to Targa, which is approximately 74% owned by Warburg Pincus, the global
private equity firm, is a natural evolution of the FGS project as it progresses beyond completion of
the permitting phase.
Click here to read the news release (PDF; 28K)
Florida Industrial Power Users Group
April 5, 2008
“Today's energy market requires energy providers and regulators to be proactive and
diligent in maintaining system reliability and affordable prices on behalf of Florida's consumers.
While companies have appropriately taken advantage of storage outside of Florida, we also need
in-state storage to prevent an unforeseen circumstance where the supply from outside Florida is
restricted.”
John W. McWhirter, Jr.
Florida Industrial Power Users Group
Click here to read Mr. McWhirter's letter (PDF; 21K)
Agency for Workforce Innovation
March 18, 2008
"I am excited to hear about the progress that Floridaian Natural Gas Storage is making in Martin County to bring the first natural gas storage facility to the State of Florida. From our perspective at the Agency for Workforce Innovation, this is a great example of how private dollars can be used to create short- and long-term jobs for Florida's residents. This type of private investment and job creation is particularly important in an area like Indiantown ..."
Monesia T. Brown, Director
Agency for Workforce Innovation
Click here to read Director Brown's letter (PDF; 41K)
Kiplinger Letter
March 14, 2008
Skyrocketing oil prices aren't the only energy worry. Too little storage capacity for natural gas is a growing concern as well. The industry's ability to bank natural gas in spring and summer to meet heavier winter needs is limited to about 3.6 trillion cubic feet, the amount in storage last October. But use keeps climbing. By April supplies will be at least 20% below normal, despite average winter temperatures.
Developing new storage - tanks or natural caverns - is tough, with both a high price tag and a series of regulatory hurdles to navigate. One Florida company (Floridian Natural Gas Storage) is testing the waters though. It plans a storage tank with a capacity of 8 billion cubic feet. If OK'd, others will follow.
Director of Emergency Management
State of Florida
February 27, 2008
“The commitment of the Floridian Natural Gas Storage Company to bring the first
market area natural gas storage facility to the State of Florida will provide a
significant enhancement to the State’s ability to prepare for, respond to, recover
from and mitigate against disasters and their impacts for our residents and
visitors.”
W. Craig Fugate, Director
Florida Division of Emergency Management
To read Director Fugate’s full letter click here (PDF; 181K)
Potential volatility driving need for Florida gas storage
February 28, 2008
By Joel Kirkland
Platts Gas Daily
The need to avoid severe price volatility in Florida's rapidly growing natural gas market will compel utilities to sign on with gas storage providers, the developer of a Florida gas storage project said Tuesday.
Read the full article here
Floridian Natural Gas Storage project receives unanimous recommendation
The FGS project received the unanimous support of Martin County's local planning agency at a public hearing on the project's development application on January 10, 2008.
Click here to view Martin County's notice (PDF; 46K)
Natural gas must be stored here
July 30, 2007
By Harold McLean
Published in the Sun-Sentinel
Lots of things in modern life are so complex. Sometimes, it's hard to see the big picture. Natural gas storage in Florida is a lot like that.
Read the full article here
Florida needs natural gas storage facility
July 14, 2007
By Mike Twomey
Published in the Sun-Sentinel
While Gov. Charlie Crist hosted a conference on global warming this week, it is worth noting that more of Florida's electricity is generated from natural gas than from any other energy source.
Now that the Florida Public Service Commission has declined the application for a large coal-fired generation plant, Florida's dependence on natural gas will necessarily be even greater in the future. However, the PSC will also rightly expect Florida utilities to manage gas-price volatility. In 2005-06, the state's electric customers paid an additional $2 billion-plus in fuel adjustment increases resulting from skyrocketing natural gas prices.
It is imperative that Florida has gas storage within the state to reduce and manage both supply interruptions and peak-period price spikes ...
Read the full article here
Natural Gas Storage Essential for Florida's Future Energy Security
June 30, 2007
By David Parker
As Congress calls for Americans to take greater control of the country's energy and environmental future, one of the most effective and achievable means of doing so is diversifying the energy sources we use to supply our homes, businesses and industries.
New natural gas storage located in Florida can and should be an important source of energy for the state of Florida, just as it is elsewhere across the country and the world. Natural gas storage can help meet growing energy needs as the state's population increases, can help ensure supply during supply disruptions and can help moderate energy prices.
Read the full article here
In-state natural-gas storage would help keep lights on after storms
June 17, 2007
The Palm Beach Post
By Mike Twomey
This year, we began hurricane season with a subtropical storm. Then Tropical Storm Barry brought wind and heavy rains to the state on June 1. We don't know what to expect from here, though predictions are for an active storm season.
Read the full article here
Florida needs to store natural gas
By Harold McLean
April 25 2007
Pubished in the Sun-Sentinel
According to recently released statistics from the U.S. government, the average retail price of electricity in December 2006 was $8.49 per kilowatt hour. Florida's average was $10.33. Even worse, while average U.S. electricity prices rose only 28 cents in December 2006 (versus December 2005), Florida's prices increased by 16 percent, up $1.43.
Why? Read the full article here
FPL Highlights Strategy to Meet Florida's Future Electric Supply Needs
April 3, 2007
JUNO BEACH, Fla.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Florida Power & Light Company plans to meet anticipated customer growth and the increasing electricity needs of its customers with a strategy that focuses on fuel diversity, advanced technology, energy conservation and renewable energy sources to improve system reliability and help stabilize future power prices. As part of this strategy, FPL also plans to increase its power generating resources by approximately 28 percent by 2016.
Read the full article here
Indiantown finds suitor
Stuart News Staff Editorial
March 18, 2007
Some environmental groups are troubled by the proposed construction of two, 185-foot-tall natural gas storage tanks in Indiantown.
Their fears are exaggerated.
Moreover, this project represents a viable - and safe - use of property that once received the dubious distinction of being named a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Superfund site.
Read the full article here
UTILITIES: Store natural gas in Florida
February 25, 2007
By Mike Twomey, Jacksonville Times-Union
Floridians pay some of the highest electric bills in the nation because our utilities pay more for natural gas than any state besides Hawaii.
Because so many of our power plants burn natural gas, Florida's reliance on this fuel will rise from 30 percent of our energy needs now to 44 percent by 2011.
Given our increased reliance on this fuel, we must take steps to ensure its secure supply and moderate its price. One important way to reduce the risk of supply disruptions, while moderating prices, is natural gas storage. Florida utilities maintain large coal reserves to ensure fuel supply security and allow for bargain purchases, when available. Utilities also inventory oil for the same reasons. The federal government keeps the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to protect from interruptions in the oil supply. It makes sense to provide these same protections to clean-burning natural gas that is essential for such a large percentage of our power generation.
Florida imports natural gas via two pipelines running from hurricane-vulnerable Gulf Coast states. We narrowly avoided supply disruptions from Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Rita. Storing natural gas would help protect us from future hurricanes. If a storm closed these vital pipelines, utilities could draw from stored natural gas reserves in the state until the pipelines reopen.
Florida is subject to volatile energy costs with consumers paying higher prices whenever a blizzard hits New York or a heat wave strikes Texas. Natural gas storage would change this by allowing utilities to draw from storage when prices are high and refill storage facilities when prices are low. This could save Florida electric customers tens of millions of dollars over only several weeks.
To stabilize utility rates and ensure a reliable electric grid during hurricanes and heat waves, the Legislature and the Public Service Commission should encourage the development of natural gas storage in Florida. The storage technology is proved, safe and already used in other states.
With population growth straining our energy infrastructure, in five years the state's energy demands could exceed supply on peak summer days, causing a spike in rates and perhaps even blackouts. With the clear benefits natural gas storage offers consumers in terms of enhanced energy security, supply reliability and price stability, the Public Service Commission and the Legislature should encourage natural gas storage in Florida.
Mike Twomey, President, Florida Utility Watch Inc., Tallahassee
Florida cities should store gas nearby
February 20, 2007
By John Marks, Business Matters
Whenever there's a problem in our communities, citizens often look to their mayors and city officials to help solve it. As the local government representatives closest and most accessible to the people, mayors need to be concerned about emerging problems and take action to confront them proactively.
Florida's energy future is one such area that warrants close inspection. By 2010, our state's population is expected to grow more than 10 percent to nearly 20 million people. But our demand for natural gas to fuel growing energy needs is expected to almost double to more than a trillion cubic feet of natural gas each year.
Most of the new power plants set to come online in the next four years will be powered by natural gas. While natural gas today provides 30 percent of Florida's energy, it will provide 44 percent by 2011.
To accommodate this growth, the state must act to ensure the reliability of the natural gas fuel supply to power plants. Today, Florida relies on natural gas transported by pipeline from the hurricane-prone Gulf of Mexico - but the ability to deliver this gas into the state where it's needed will not grow with Florida's demand for energy unless we take action.
Because of this reliance on natural gas from the Gulf, the entire state faces the risk of a social, economic and energy crisis should a hurricane strike the gas-producing Gulf region or damage the pipelines that deliver gas to our power plants. As mayors, we should be concerned and work together to ensure Florida has an adequate, reliable and secure energy infrastructure and supply.
In other regions of the country that rely on natural gas - such as the Northeast, Midwest, California and Texas - energy security is enhanced by storing natural gas near the markets where it's consumed. Hurricane-vulnerable Florida is the only major consuming region in the United States that doesn't store natural gas within its borders. We ought to create our own in state reserve using this safe, proven technology for use during hurricanes, peak demand days, or other unforeseen circumstances that might threaten our ability to keep the lights on across the state.
The safety of our citizens as well as the threat to our economy should be reason enough to encourage a public policy of energy insurance. Just as the national Strategic Petroleum Reserve protects the national economy from short-term supply interruptions, so too is natural gas storage a policy of responsible precaution against future emergencies in our state. The State should encourage utilities to invest in such facilities, and the Legislature should empower the Public Service Commission to promote plans to store natural gas within Florida.
Moreover, besides simply keeping the lights on, storage is a tool to manage energy costs in an emergency. By allowing utilities to purchase natural gas when prices are low for use when costs rise, utility bills will become more stable for consumers.
In Florida, many cities own their own utility companies or participate as key members of power-generating cooperatives. This means that mayors, as the leaders of cities, are also energy executives. Our citizens are depending on us to take this part of our job seriously and encourage a policy to protect the safety and well being of our citizens and prevent our communities from suffering economic hardships in an energy emergency.
John Marks is in his second term as mayor of the city of Tallahassee.
Store Natural Gas For State's Energy Security
February 16, 2007
By Jerry Paul, Tampa Tribune
In 2001, California energy consumers were hit with rolling blackouts, double-digit rate increases and the bankruptcy of the state's largest utility companies. Multiple factors contributed to the crisis, including flawed deregulation. But the bottom line was that the state was consuming more power than it was generating.
Fortunately, Florida has not experienced such a crisis, but with our state growing so quickly, we must apply the lessons learned from California if we want to prevent a future energy crunch. Based upon current data, the state's energy demands within five years could exceed supply on peak days in the hot summer months, causing a spike in utility rates and perhaps even blackouts.
Most of Florida's electricity is generated by natural gas-burning power plants. Florida, along with many other competing states, receives its natural gas from the Gulf Coast region. Florida's supply is distributed via two pipelines through hurricane-prone south Texas and offshore wells in the Gulf of Mexico. Not only are Floridians dependent on the reliability of those two long pipelines, but they also pay higher prices whenever there's a blizzard in New York or a heat wave in Virginia.
Rather than be at the mercy of the volatile market year round, it would make much more sense for utilities to draw from natural gas reserves stored here in Florida when prices are high, and refill the tanks when prices are low. If a confluence of events occurs, such as an energy-consuming heat wave and a damaging hurricane in the Gulf of Mexico, Florida could be left seriously under-supplied and experience an energy crisis similar to that seen in California. Fortunately, we have time to protect ourselves from such a crisis. Just as the federal government maintains the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to protect the economy and our national security from potential supply interruptions, Florida utilities should store natural gas to ensure the reliability of our energy supply.
Such a gas storage facility would not have to be taxpayer financed. At many locations across the country, private companies lease storage capacity to utilities and others to maintain reserves of natural gas as an insurance policy to keep the lights on and protect against supply interruptions. Bringing this proven technology to Florida would greatly increase the reliability of our power supply, create real energy security for the state and stabilize power prices.
Why hasn't Florida developed such storage capacity before now? First, Florida's natural gas infrastructure and supply has been adequate to date. However, as power needs over the next three years increase, that capacity will become strained. Second, Florida's current regulatory and permitting structure has not been updated to accommodate the construction of strategic gas reserve facilities. This hurdle has had a chilling effect on new needed projects. And third, Florida's utility companies currently lack regulatory incentives to invest in such an insurance policy.
The Legislature should act to make natural gas storage as available and open as possible to utility companies and eliminate disincentives for investment in energy infrastructure. Otherwise, Florida risks becoming another California.
Jerry Paul is an engineer, attorney and former legislator who has served as chairman of the Florida House Environmental Regulation Committee and in the U.S. Department of Energy.
Statement of Chairman Joseph T. Kelliher
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission
February 15, 2007
Open Commission Meeting regarding Item C-6 & C-7: Gulf LNG Energy, LLC (CP06-12-000 et al.) & Bayou Casotte Energy LLC (CP05-420-000)
"I called these orders for discussion so that the staff could brief the Commission on
the status of applications for authorization for liquefied natural gas (LNG) import
facilities.
The North American natural gas market is changing, and changing fundamentally.
The plain fact is that North American gas supply is no longer adequate to meet North
American gas demand. That is true even assuming the eventual construction of an
Alaskan natural gas pipeline. Our gas market is no longer a U.S. gas market, and
increasingly is no longer a North American market. Instead, we are becoming part of
a broader international gas market. There are implications to that development,
some of which we can appreciate.
There is significant concern about the adequacy of natural gas supply, overall price
levels, and price volatility. In the context of the internationalization of our gas
markets, we can take action to assure adequate supply and reduce price volatility.
We can increase gas supply through expanding LNG import capacity. We can
increase gas storage capacity, which serves as a physical hedge. We can assure
greater price transparency. We can police the markets, enforcing the antimanipulation
rule. The Commission has a good record in all of these areas.
However, it is important to recognize the relationship between infrastructure and
supply and between infrastructure and price. Infrastructure is the ability to produce
energy supply and move it to where it is most needed. If energy infrastructure is
inadequate, the predictable result is higher prices and greater price volatility.
Of course, that does not mean all proposed energy infrastructure projects must be
approved. It does suggest, however, that uniform opposition to energy
infrastructure proposals may come at a cost, in the form of higher energy prices and
greater volatility. "
Floridian Natural Gas conducts public outreach in support of storage project
January 25, 2007
By Toni DeSalvo
Floridian Natural Gas Storage Co. held an open house in Indiantown, Fla., on Jan. 24 to inform area residents and local officials about the company's proposed LNG storage facility.
Read more at http://www.snl.com/InteractiveX/article.aspx?CDID=A-5253881-11363&KPLT=2
Gas storage facility safe, proponents say
By Jason Schultz
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Thursday, January 25, 2007
INDIANTOWN - Most of the residents who viewed plans for a 185-foot-tall steel and concrete tank full of liquefied natural gas west of Indiantown said they liked what they saw Wednesday night.
Read full article here
Natural gas supply up; prices, too
By Brad Foss
The Associated Press
January 2, 2007
WASHINGTON - The country is awash in natural gas inventories and mild temperatures have kept demand in check. Yet the price of this home-heating and power-generation fuel is still soaring above historical norms.
What gives?
Read more at http://www.sun-sentinel.com/business/local/sfl-zgas02jan02,0,557748.story
Natural Gas Storage Plan Will Improve Reliability for FPL Customers
State of Florida Public Service Commission
December 8, 2006
TALLAHASSEE - As part of the annual fuel proceeding, the Public Service Commission (PSC) has approved the recovery of a portion of the costs associated with Florida Power & Light Company's (FPL) participation in the MoBay Gas Storage Facility that will begin operations in 2008. FPL's participation is a forward-looking effort to address potential fuel supply disruptions. Customers will benefit from the reduced risk of fuel-related outages.
Read more at http://www.psc.state.fl.us/home/news/index.aspx?id=201
Superfund sites become major boon to Martin County
By George Andreassi
November 19, 2006
Cleaned up after lying unused for decades, federal Superfund sites near Indiantown and in Port Salerno are being redeveloped, sending their appraised values through the roof and enhancing Martin County's tax base.
"Certainly, as both of them have been cleaned up, they are definitely going up in value," said Assistant County Property Appraiser Mike Fribourg. When the properties still had toxic waste on them, they had relatively little value because of the cleanup costs.
The cleanup of the Florida Steel Superfund site on Warfield Boulevard increased the value of the property to $3 million this year from $16,000 in 2005, Fribourg said. And the value of the 145-acre site is expected to climb to $7 million next year.
Two Houston energy industry veterans last week unveiled plans for a massive natural gas storage tank on the property that they estimate will be worth $225 million upon completion in 2011.
Meanwhile, the redevelopment of the old Solitron Microwave Superfund site into the Port Salerno Industrial Park is in full swing with the infrastructure under construction. As a result, the value of the 20-acre property has increased to more than $1 million this year, almost four times what it was worth in 2003, Fribourg said.
One of the developers, Janet Kozan, said the first lot has been sold and work is expected to start in 2007 on an office-warehouse. But Kozan said she did not know how fast the other six lots would sell in the softening real estate market. As the lots are developed, the overall value of the industrial park will increase, Fribourg said.
The dramatically increasing value of the old Superfund sites is good for Martin County's tax base, said Commissioner Lee Weberman, whose district includes the Florida Steel property.
The Floridian Natural Gas Storage principals estimate the storage tank will generate $1.5 million in property taxes per year. "If it's that kind of money, that's a big benefit for the county," Weberman said. "You would rather see these Superfund sites be used for something than to lie dormant."
Florida Steel closed its Indiantown plant in 1982, federal records show. The site was contaminated with zinc, lead and polychlorinated biphenyls. It cost nearly $8 million to clean up the toxic waste, said Laura Niles, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
The Solitron Microwave electronics factory, which was contaminated with copper and tetrachloroethene, closed in 1987, federal records show. It cost about $4 million to clean up the toxic waste.
The companies that caused the pollution helped pay for the clean ups, said Bill Denman, a Superfund reuse coordinator with the EPA. "EPA is very interested in facilitating the redevelopment of Superfund sites," Denman said. "The value of these properties now as far as their taxable value has gone way up, so that will be a financial benefit to the county as far as property taxes are concerned."
Copyright 2006. Scripps Treasure Coast Newspapers.
Palm Beach Post
Texas firm plans to build natural gas storage plant
By Eve Samples
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Thursday, November 16, 2006
STUART - A newly formed Texas company run by two energy-industry veterans is pushing to build the state's first natural gas storage plant at a long-vacant Superfund site in Indiantown.
Citing a projected increase in demand for the fuel, Floridian Natural Gas Storage LLC hopes to open an above-ground storage tank on 145 acres at the old Florida Steel site by 2011, giving the state's gas and power companies a place to keep natural gas until it's needed during high-demand periods.
The gas would be converted to liquid form for storage and then reconverted to gas when needed.
"They buy low-cost gas, deliver it to our facility. We warehouse it until they need it," J. Bradley Williams, one of the company's two principals, said Wednesday.
The $225 million plant ultimately would employ 15 to 20 people, and if demand is strong enough, the firm may open a second storage tank in coming years, Williams said.
Floridian Natural Gas incorporated in Delaware in August, but its operations are based in The Woodlands, Texas. Williams has worked for Mobil Oil, Enron, Entergy and, most recently, Juno Beach-based FPL Group Inc. (NYSE: FPL, $52.53), where he concentrated on natural gas.
His business partner, David Sharp, has been in the energy business for 30 years and worked with Shell on importing liquefied natural gas to the United States.
The Indiantown project is the first venture of Floridian Natural Gas, and Williams said the international investment firm Warburg Pincus would be a major investor.
The Florida Steel mill where the firm is proposing the project has been out of use for about 24 years - since it was first included on the federal government's list of seriously polluted Superfund sites. It sits just east of Florida's two natural gas pipelines: the Gulfstream pipeline and Florida Gas Transmission.
Floridian Natural Gas has an option to buy the property from Tampa-based Gerdau Ameristeel Corp., which put it on the market in October 2005 for $9.1 million. Williams and Sharp declined to reveal the purchase price.
Since 1983, Gerdau Ameristeel has spent about $16 million removing and treating contaminated soil and groundwater on the property, and a 5-acre landfill remains there.
Brian Powers, an Indiantown native and president of Indiantown Gas Co., said bringing new industry to the rural area would help erase the stigma of the Superfund site.
"This is a good, clean industry, and it's a quiet industry," he said. "And it's certainly less intense than the steel mill was. So I look at it and think this is a good deal."
Powers said he has had informal talks with the firm but said no decision had been made about whether it would make sense for his small company to become a customer. Williams declined to say whether he has any customers lined up for the site.
As for safety, Williams said the project would be subject to intense scrutiny from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. About 100 similar plants exist around the country.
The big benefits, Williams said, are that the project would provide a continuous supply of natural gas to Florida during interruptions in the Gulf of Mexico, and it could let utilities pass on cost savings by allowing them to stock up while the fuel is cheap.
Florida Power & Light Co. spokeswoman Pat Davis said the utility, a division of FPL Group, now gets its natural gas directly from pipelines. Last year, about 42 percent of the utility's energy was produced using natural gas.
Copyright 2006, The Palm Beach Post.
Florida Public Service Commission News Releases
Fuel Charges Set For Electric Utilities
11/8/2006
TALLAHASSEE - On November 8, the Florida Public Service Commission (PSC) set the 2007 fuel adjustment charges for the customers of Florida investor-owned electric utilities. The fuel adjustment charges were decided at a hearing where the Commission considered each utility's projected costs of fuel and purchased power for 2007 as well as "trued up" costs for 2005 and 2006. The fuel charge appears on customer bills separate from other charges. Utilities are allowed to recover only the prudent costs of procuring fuel and purchased power necessary to meet customer demand. The utilities are not allowed to make a profit on fuel purchases.
The fuel adjustment charges for residential customers starting with the first billing cycle in January 2007 are:
- Florida Power & Light Company: The residential fuel charge will be 5.420 cents per kwh for the first 1,000 kwh and 6.420 cents per kwh for all additional usage. Based on the new fuel charges, the total monthly electric bill for residential customers using 1,000 kwh will be $103.51.
- Progress Energy Florida, Inc.: The residential fuel charge will be 4.798 cents per kwh for the first 1,000 kwh and 5.798 cents per kwh for all additional usage. Based on the new fuel charges, the total monthly electric bill for residential customers using 1,000 kwh will be $110.34.
- Tampa Electric Company: The residential fuel charge will be 5.922 cents per kwh. Based on the new fuel charges, the total monthly electric bill for residential customers using 1,000 kwh will be $114.54.
- Gulf Power Company: The residential fuel charge will be 3.959 cents per kwh. Based on the new fuel charges, the total monthly electric bill for residential customers using 1,000 kwh will be $101.87.
- Florida Public Utilities (Marianna): The residential fuel charge will be 4.420 cents per kwh. Based on the new fuel charges, the total monthly electric bill for residential customers using 1,000 kwh will be $70.29.
- Florida Public Utilities (Fernandina): The residential fuel charge will be 5.170 cents per kwh. Based on the new fuel charges, the total monthly electric bill for residential customers using 1,000 kwh will be $77.98.
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