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Enron Mail |
---------------------- Forwarded by Kay Mann/Corp/Enron on 03/27/2001 12:30=
=20 PM --------------------------- Kathleen Carnahan 03/27/2001 11:12 AM To: Ann Elizabeth White/HOU/ECT@ECT cc: Carlos Sole/NA/Enron@Enron, Kay Mann/Corp/Enron@Enron=20 Subject: Sun-Sentinel News.htm There certainly was quite a turn-out at last night's meeting in Florida. Kathleen =09 Home News Sports Entertainment Classified Business Weather Shopping INSIDE NEWS National South Florida Cuba=20 Obituaries=20 Traffic=20 Lottery results=20 Education Columnists Photo Galleries=20 COMMUNITY INFO Property Records Multicultural Directory=20 CHANNELS NEWS South Florida, National, Columns, Obituaries TRAFFIC WEATHER SPORTS=20 Dolphins, Marlins, Heat, Panthers, Fusion, High school, College,=20 BUSINESS CLASSIFIED Careers, Homes, Apartments, Cars, Personals SHOPPING TRAVEL THE EDGE ENTERTAINMENT Dining, Movies, Events, Festivals, TV, Theater, Contests=20 FEATURES/LIFESTYLE Food, Arts, Home & Garden, Books OPINION OTHER SERVICES=20 Map/directions, Archives, Newspaper customer service, News by email=20 =09=09 500 pack hearing to protest power plant By DAVID FLESHLER=20 Staff Writer=20 Posted March 27 2001=20 =09=09 =09=09 =09=09 =09=09 =09=09 =09=09 Email this story to a friend=20 Printer friendly version =09=09 =09=09 =09=09 =09=09PHOTOS=20 =09=09 =09=09 =09=09 =09=09 DISCONTENT: (Melissa Lyttle/Staff)=20 Mar 27, 2001=20 =09=09 =09=09 =09=09 =09=09MORE HEADLINES =09=09 =09=09Worried landscapers try to derail tough water restrictions Senate advances bill to limit access to autopsy photos FAU professor wants apology for wrongful theft arrest Developer agrees to let workers unionize at planned convention center hotel Jail inmate dies after nurses fail to take her pain complaint seriously =09=09 =09=09 =09=09 =09=09 =09=09More than 500 people packed the Pompano Beach Civic Center on Monday = night in=20 a formidable display of opposition to Enron Corp.'s plans for a power plant= =20 next to Florida's Turnpike. Opponents arrived in buses chartered by condominiums. They came from=20 virtually all the cities of north Broward County, some holding signs, other= s=20 clutching notes for statements they wanted to make. They included a member = of=20 Congress, two county commissioners and a parade of city officials. Enron officials insisted they weren't jarred by the display of opposition.= =20 But spokesman Eric Thode acknowledged he hadn't seen anything like it in=20 other parts of the United States where the company has built plants. The hearing was called by the state Department of Environmental Protection = to=20 take comments on the agency's preliminary decision to issue the company a= =20 permit. The agency had found that the 510-megawatt plant would not harm the= =20 region's air quality. But few people in the crowd were buying that. They expressed suspicion abou= t=20 Enron's promise to run the plant only as a part-time, backup facility. They= =20 said the region didn't need the power and that the company would simply sel= l=20 it elsewhere. And they doubted whether state officials sitting onstage coul= d=20 know everything about the possible harm the plant could cause. "Don't let them tell us these chemicals are perfectly safe for us," said=20 Claire Hornstein, of Pompano Beach. "They do not know, and we're not na=12z= ?=20 enough to believe it." Speakers expressed concern about their health and their children's health. Craig Wolf, of Coconut Creek, said he had been in the hospital 47 times for= =20 lung problems. He moved from Miami to escape the pollution, and now he fear= s=20 it will follow him to his current home. "This could cause me to end up in the hospital," he said. "Please don't do= =20 this project. Dan Mackey, of Coconut Creek, arrived with a hand-drawn sign that read,=20 "Think of Our Kids. Stuff the Stacks." Aware of the company's political=20 influence, such as its close ties to President Bush, Mackey said he wondere= d=20 how much of a chance opponents had. "We're afraid of Enron," said Mackey, who has a 10-year-old daughter. "We= =20 don't feel we're in very good shape against them." U.S. Rep. Robert Wexler, D-Fla., spoke against the project, asking the DEP= =20 officials seated in front to consider public health first. "I think the people in this room and every resident of Broward County is ow= ed=20 a presumption that the state will give every benefit of the doubt to health= ,"=20 he said. Also speaking against the plant were County Commissioners Kristin Jacobs an= d=20 Ilene Lieberman. A procession of mayors and commissioners from the cities= =20 around Pompano Beach took turns at the microphone. "I worry about the young kids with asthma and the seniors with emphysema,"= =20 said Coconut Creek Commissioner Becky Tooley. "Are you going to take away= =20 somebody's last breath just to make some money? I don't think so." Thode, the Enron spokesman, expressed irritation at the statements from the= =20 politicians. "The thing that gets me is that we've met with these people, given them the= =20 facts, and they continue to say things that are not true," he said. "Sellin= g=20 outside the state of Florida -- not going to happen. The only way we operat= e=20 is when a utility needs the electricity." The DEP is scheduled to work on its final permit. But four cities have file= d=20 a request to delay the permit so they can petition for an administrative=20 hearing. The real decision on whether the plant gets built could belong to the Pompa= no=20 Beach City Commission. The commission is scheduled to vote April 10 on=20 whether to rezone 28 acres for the plant from industrial to utility. At thi= s=20 point, it appears the vote will be close. "It's not what we need in our neighborhood," said Jim Story, of Deerfield= =20 Beach. "It's not what we need for our families, for our health, our propert= y=20 values. We don't like the traffic that the fuel trucks will cause. I've liv= ed=20 here 30 years. I remember when they built the landfill, the incinerator.=20 Perhaps they'd like to put in a smelting plant." David Fleshler can be reached at dfleshler@sun-sentinel.com or 954-356-4535= . =09=09Copyright =01, 2001, South Florida Sun-Sentinel =09=09 =09=09=09=09 =09=09=09=09 =09=09=09=09 =09=09=09=09 =09=09=09=09 =09=09=09=09 =09=09=09=09 =09=09=09=09 =09=09=09=09 =09=09=09=09 =09=09=09=09 =09=09=09=09 =09=09=09=09 =09=09=09=09 Find a local merchant=20 =20 =20 Enter a business name (optional): Need more options? Try an advanced search.=20 =09=09=09=09 =09=09=09=09 Sun-Sentinel.com Questions or comments? | Paid archives | Start a newspaper subscription=20 |Advertise online Copyright 2001, Sun-Sentinel Co. & South Florida Interactive, Inc. Powered by Genuity=20 =20
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