The public has until Dec. 12 to weigh in on whether Florida Power & Light should pass the $200 million clean-up tab for fixing leaking canals at Turkey Point on to customers.
The trouble-prone canals that help cool two aging reactors at the plant have been at the center of a years-long dispute over a growing saltwater plume threatening to contaminate drinking supplies and Biscayne Bay. FPL long denied being the source, but last year Miami-Dade County regulators found elevated levels of tritium, a radioactive tracer used to trace water, in the bay and nearby monitoring wells. Weeks later, the state ordered the utility to clean up the canals and stop the leaks.
Initially, the utility said flushing canal water into an injection well and pumping in fresher water would cost $50 million the first year. But that cost ballooned as clean-up efforts expanded, according to Mike Sole, FPL’s vice president.
The plan has also drawn criticism from solar advocates and environmentalists, who have sued the utility in federal court, saying it fails to prevent future damage.
Read more at our news partner the Miami Herald.