Big energy’s campaign cash keeps solar down in Florida
Back when Paige Kreegel was a state representative in 2009, he had an idea that he thought simply made sense. Florida, the Sunshine State, should become a model for solar power.
As chairman of the state House’s Committee on Energy, Kreegel was in a position to change Florida laws that have restricted the growth of rooftop solar panels. As a self-described free-market Republican, he wanted to get government out of the way of a growing industry.
But Kreegel soon discovered his fellow committee members wouldn’t discuss solar energy, and the fact that he brought it up made him an outcast. When he walked the halls of the Legislature, other lawmakers would shut their doors.
“You know how Tallahassee has an in-group and an out-group?” said Kreegel, a physician in Punta Gorda who left the House in 2012. “I didn’t know I was on the outside until I went against the public utilities, and then — holy hell.”
Kreegel isn’t alone. Other lawmakers and lobbyists say that anyone who has attempted to expand the rooftop solar industry has been ostracized. The reason, some lawmakers say, is that Florida’s largest utilities have invested heavily in state political campaigns to fend off competition.
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/politics-government/article17474102.html
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You'd think a state called the sunshine state would have embraced this idea a long time ago.
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