Certification Hearing Set for Bobwhite - Manatee Transmission Line

A certification hearing has been set for Florida Power & Light Company’s (FPL) Bobwhite-Manatee transmission line project.  This hearing is to determine whether the company’s application for the 230-kilovolt transmission line project should be certified under the State of Florida’s Transmission Line Siting Act and if so, on what route it should be certified.

This is a public hearing scheduled to begin on Monday, October 22, 2007, and it is expected to last from 2-3 weeks. It is important to note that a specific time has been set aside for members of the public to provide sworn testimony directly to the Administrative Law Judge presiding over the hearing.

Public Input Opportunity:    7:00 pm, Wednesday, October 24, 2007

During the Certification Hearing, the judge will consider a balance of land use, environmental, engineering, cost and other factors presented through evidence offered by participating state, regional and local governmental agencies, FPL and other parties as well as through public testimony. Following the hearing, the judge will issue a recommended order including the identification of the corridor recommended for certification. That recommended order will be submitted to the Governor and Cabinet, who will make the final decision about granting certification for the Bobwhite-Manatee line and about which corridor should receive certification.

Thirteen (13) alternate corridors were originally submitted by others in opposition to the one that FPL recommended in January 2007. Only twelve (12) of these, along with FPL’s Preferred Corridor, will be considered during the hearing. These includes the ten (10) alternates submitted by Schroeder-Manatee Ranch, Inc. and Lake Club Investors, LLC (SMR), and the two (2) alternates submitted by Taylor & Fulton, Inc. View a map of these corridors.

While all corridors are appropriate for construction and could be recommended for certification by the judge, FPL prefers the corridor that it submitted in its application and plans to offer testimony and evidence in its support during the certification hearing. Nevertheless, there is the possibility for one of these alternate corridors to be certified rather than FPL’s Preferred Corridor. Until the certification process is concluded with the Governor and Cabinet’s final decision, the location of the Bobwhite-Manatee transmission line corridor is not definite.

Entities who have filed to oppose FPL’s Preferred Corridor include Schroeder-Manatee Ranch, Inc., Lake Club Investors, LLC, The Concession Land Development, LLC, The Concession Golf Club, LLC, Pacific Land, LTD, John Falkner and Taylor & Fulton, Inc. Other entities who have filed to participate include John Cannon Homes – Eastmoor, LLC, Schwartz Farms Inc., Michael D. and Joanne Schwartz, Sarasota One, LLC, Indian Creek Development, LLC, BDR Investments, LLC, ManaSota-88, Inc., Kittie L. Chapman, Myakka Ranch Holdings, LLC, East County Homeowners Organization, Inc., FC, LLC and Gum Slough Preservation Foundation, Inc.

FPL recommends that you visit the web sites of the Department of Environmental Protection, the Division of Administrative Hearings, and FPL regularly to find current information. The addresses for those web sites are as follows:

• Department of Environmental Protection : See "Transmission Line Applications in Process – Bobwhite-Manatee"
• Division of Administrative Hearings: Enter Docket No. 07-0105TL
• FPL:  http://www.FPL.com/Bobwhite

You may also contact FPL regarding this project at Bobwhite-Manateeproject@FPL.com or call us toll free at 1-800-951-8849. Copies of the FPL application and the alternate submittals are accessible for review at FPL offices as noted below: 

FPL Office in Sarasota
1177 N. Lime Avenue
Sarasota, FL 34237

FPL Office in Bradenton
416 Manatee Avenue
Bradenton, FL 34205