Proposed bill would bury Florida's power lines

PALM BEACH, FLORIDA - The town of Palm Beach is aggressively pushing a proposal that would require utilities statewide to put their power lines underground.

The town hired Tallahassee attorney Robert Scheffel Wright to write the bill for the upcoming legislative session. It calls for Florida utilities to have a schedule to bury the power lines, list competitive bids from vendors willing to do the work and report in detail the damage caused by the 2004 and 2005 hurricanes.

Palm Beach Mayor Jack McDonald has sent letters to mayors in Palm Beach County and to Florida's federal and state lawmakers and gubernatorial candidates, urging them to create before the primary election in September an "action plan" for burying the lines.

"Nothing less than the health, safety and economic welfare of our communities are at risk if we continue to allow the status quo to exist." wrote McDonald, who did not return phone calls seeking comment.

The bill - which the Palm Beach Town Council approved Dec. 13 - doesn't yet have a sponsor in the legislature, but at least one lawmaker is certain some changes will be made to the electricity delivery system during the upcoming session.

"I think the legislative leadership is pretty ripe to take up this issue," said Rep. Susan Bucher, D-West Palm Beach.

Florida Power & Light Co. officials haven't seen the bill, but the utility is willing to work with lawmakers, FPL spokesman Mayco Villafana said.

"We understand that everyone is trying to do the right thing," he said.

But FPL is concerned about cost and whether burying utilities is the solution for every city and town.

"A law like this may have unintended consequences," Villafana said.

Putting existing lines underground means digging trenches through streets and yards.

"Each community needs to decide whether underground utilities are right for that community," said Rep. Mary Brandenburg, D-West Palm Beach.

Rep. Carl Domino, R-Jupiter, said most lawmakers won't be able to take on another bill this close to the start of the session - which begins March 7 - but that the topic won't be overlooked.

"Monumental changes like this don't happen generally in one session, but it's definitely an issue that should be discussed in the public arena," Domino said.

State law and utility regulations require electric companies to provide safe, reliable service at the lowest cost to consumers.

That method typically has been though overhead utility poles and wires. But two years of intense hurricanes and long-lasting power outages have caused consumers and officials to cry out that the power grid be changed.

"For 24 months we've lived with this, and enough is enough," said Sen. Jeff Atwater, R-North Palm Beach. "If we don't do this now, we'd just really be looking away blindly, and that's not acceptable."

Still, to make the widespread changes suggested in the bill would be "ambitious," Public Service Commission spokesman Kevin Bloom said. "But it's entirely up to the legislature."

Two Senate committees will take up the issue of energy supply, as well as utilities and hurricane preparation, next week. At the end of the month, FPL and other utilities will meet with members of the Public Service Commission to discuss how to reduce storm damage to the electricity grid.