If you ever needed an example of irony and gall all in one package, look no further than Tampa Electric Company (TECO) in Florida. Get this -- TECO is planning to expand a coal and gas power plant and build a sea wall around it to try and save it from sea level rise caused by climate change! They’re proposing to elevate part of their Tampa-area Big Bend coal and fracked gas plants by 14 feet to try to protect them from sea level rise -- all as the company expands its use of fossil fuels that cause climate change and sea level rise at the plant, while doing nothing to protect the surrounding community. It’s a jaw-dropper and a facepalm all in one.
Thankfully we have an amazing, inspiring coalition of Tampa-area activists fighting this plan every step of the way and demanding that TECO to retire its coal units at the nearby Big Bend facility.
“TECO needs to tell the truth about their plan to burn more dirty, dangerous coal and fracked gas here in the Tampa Bay area,” said Gonzalo Valdes, organizing representative for the Sierra Club. “We launched the #TellTheTruthTECO campaign so people in this community know TECO is leaving us to fend for ourselves while trying to protect their own facilities from the effects of climate change, even as they are making climate change worse. In fact, just hours after the launch of the #TellTheTruthTECO campaign, over 1,000 people signed on to demand that TECO invest in clean energy instead of the dirty fuels that cause climate change.” Since then, 7,500 people more have signed on, and you can too, by signing the petition to TECO’s CEO Nancy Tower here.
Sierra Club Beyond Coal folks have joined activists from the NAACP, the League of Women Voters, Physicians for Social Responsibility, OrganizeFlorida, student groups at the University of South Florida, Interfaith Council of Florida, and many others.
These powerful groups organized and filled a "People's Forum" ahead of a public hearing held on March 11. More than 100 people attended both the forum and the hearing to speak in opposition to the plans for fracked gas and coal. Later in March, Gonzalo Valdes and the vice president of the local NAACP attended an event with the CEO of TECO and attempted to deliver 6,500 petitions opposing the project. When the CEO refused, they took the petitions to the TECO headquarters and delivered them.
The #TellTheTruthTECO campaign also involves a video explaining the realities of TECO’s fossil fuel obsession.
“TECO is trying to avoid talking about the cost of climate change, while making it far worse, and is also exposing Tampa Bay’s communities to catastrophic environmental harm,” said Susannah Randolph, senior representative for the Sierra Club’s Beyond Coal campaign in Florida. “There’s no excuse—especially in the Sunshine State—to expand the use of fracked gas and recommit to burning coal when solar resources are abundant and when the science is clear that Florida must stop burning dirty, dangerous fossil fuels to avoid the worst effects of climate change, including stronger hurricanes and flooding from rising seas.”
Floridians know that clean energy like solar and battery storage is the way forward, and the coalition is pushing TECO to make the right decision when it comes to powering the Sunshine State.
“TECO should get on the right side of history by scrapping this plan and investing in 100 percent clean energy,” said Randolph. “Floridians demand, and deserve, decision-makers who put our communities’ public health and safety above polluter profits.”