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Enron Mail |
---------------------- Forwarded by Kay Mann/Corp/Enron on 03/26/2001 12:01
PM --------------------------- From: Kathleen Carnahan 03/26/2001 11:33 AM To: Ann Elizabeth White/HOU/ECT@ECT cc: Kay Mann/Corp/Enron@Enron, Carlos Sole/NA/Enron@Enron Subject: Cities unite to fight Enron The latest from Florida re: Pompano Beach. Kathleen ---------------------- Forwarded by Kathleen Carnahan/NA/Enron on 03/26/2001 11:29 AM --------------------------- Rebecca.Walker@enron.com on 03/26/2001 10:50:20 AM Please respond to Rebecca.Walker@enron.com To: Kathleen.Carnahan@enron.com cc: Subject: Cities unite to fight Enron From: Rebecca -------------------- Cities unite to fight Enron -------------------- By JEREMY MILARSKY Staff Writer March 24, 2001 Before the battle begins, it's a good idea to have some ammunition. That's why at least four cities have agreed to pay $10,000 to an environmental engineering firm based in Syracuse, N.Y., to shore up information about Enron Corp. and its plan to build two power plants in Pompano Beach and Deerfield Beach. Politicians in those cities want to have all the facts about the company and its plans when they attend a Monday evening public hearing hosted by the state Department of Environmental Protection. State officials planned the hearing, scheduled for 7:30 p.m. at the Pompano Beach Civic Center, in order to hear concerns and comments about the state agency's plan to grant a permit allowing Enron to build the plant. The cities -- which so far include Coconut Creek, Margate, Coral Springs and Parkland -- have hired O'Brien and Gere Engineering Inc. for $10,000, said Dave Rivera, assistant city manager of Coconut Creek. City commissioners in North Lauderdale are considering joining the deal. If they do, each city will pay the firm $2,000. If they hope to sink Enron's plans, city officials concede the task won't be easy. The company has plants all over the world, and Enron CEO Kenneth Lay happens to be friends with President Bush. "Do I think there's a chance to defeat them?" North Lauderdale Mayor Gary Frankel said. "Well, I bet they have more money than God. But we have to protect our interests." A second element of the cities' deal with O'Brien and Gere calls for the engineers to look for any evidence the cities can use to ask the DEP for a formal administrative hearing on the proposed plants. "We're reviewing what has been submitted by Enron," said David Priddy, regional marketing manager for O'Brien and Gere. "We're prepping [city officials] for the Monday hearing, and we're advising them on the possibility of an administrative review." Some people who live in and around Pompano Beach, as well as the politicians who represent them, have concerns about Enron Corp. The company wants to build a 510-megawatt plant south of Sample Road and east of Florida's Turnpike in Pompano, along with a similar plant on Green Road in Deerfield Beach. Both plants would burn clean natural gas, and according to the company, there would be little effect on North Broward's air quality. Enron spokesman Eric Thode said he welcomes a review by O'Brien and Gere. He predicted the firm will conclude, as state officials did, that the plant will be mostly harmless. "If they want to analyze the same things that the DEP did, they're going to find the same things," Thode said. "This is a state- of-the-art plant that will benefit South Floridians." As a back-up fuel, the plant may burn diesel fuel, which emits some pollutants into the air. That has Coral Springs Mayor John Sommerer worried, because his city is often downwind from Pompano Beach. "We would agree to back off if they agree to burn solely natural gas," he said. Opposition is also forming in Deerfield Beach, where Mayor Al Capellini has formed a committee to gather more information about Enron's plans for a plant there. The public hearing for the plant's state permit will be from 7:30 to 9 p.m. Monday at the Pompano Beach Civic Center, 1801 NE Sixth St. Jeremy Milarsky can be reached at jmilarsky@sun-sentinel.com or 954-572-2020. Copyright © 2001, South Florida Sun-Sentinel Visit OrlandoSentinel.com
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