Environmental concerns assumed center stage at a "Green Forum" for County Commission candidates Friday night. About 60 people heard office seekers for Districts 3 and 5 answer a series of questions posed by Indian Riverkeeper Kevin Stinnette and designed to elicit their positions on conservation issues. Whether Republican or Democrat, most were in essential agreement. They oppose the construction of wind turbines on Hutchinson Island, support tax breaks and expedited permitting for builders using eco-friendly construction and realize the need for early education to arm citizens with the facts about global warming.

FPL reportedly kept about $1 million to administer the program, and passed the rest along to a subcontractor, Texas-based Green Mountain Energy, to manage it. "We're going to take a close look at how the money was spent," commission spokeswoman Cindy Muir said Thursday. More than 38,000 customers voluntarily contributed to the program for nearly five years. Participating FPL residential and commercial customers made $9.75 monthly contributions to promote the development of renewable energy.

It's yet another economic indicator - as if Florida's tepid economy needs one. Customer growth at the state's largest utility, Florida Power & Light Co., has dropped 79 percent during the past year. And an increasing percentage of existing FPL customers are using extremely low amounts of electricity - a sign that more homes are sitting empty across the state, executives say.

State regulators Tuesday terminated a Florida Power & Light voluntary green energy program because three-fourths of the money customers were donating went to marketing and administrative costs. By a unanimous vote, the Public Service Commission ended FPL's Sunshine Energy Program in which 39,000 customers have voluntarily added $9.75 to their monthly electric bill so that FPL could purchase renewable energy. FPL in turn contracted with a Texas company, Green Mountain Energy, to carry out the program. PSC staff have been trying for months to find out where the money went, but all it could learn was that 24 percent was going to purchase renewable energy. ...[Commissioner Nathan] Skop said the program was "a lot of marketing hype but very little of substance.''

The Treasure Coast chapter of the Surfrider Foundation has gathered more than 1,000 signatures against Florida Power & Light Co.'s wind turbine project on Hutchinson Island, the group announced late Wednesday. FPL wants to place six wind turbines on property it owns near the St. Lucie Nuclear Plant, including three at Walton Rocks beach ...The Surfrider Foundation says it has collected more than 1,000 signatures since early May, about 120 of them through an online petition the group launched June 3. The organization says it created the petition following a meeting it had with FPL officials about the project.

At present, wind provides only 1 percent of U.S. electricity, but a federal report predicts the wind could be providing 20 percent of American power by 2030. ...But perhaps not in Florida. Though pleasant breezes sweep in from the ocean, several experts say the quality and location of those winds make it difficult, if not impossible, to generate much wind power here at a reasonable cost. Florida Power & Light, whose parent is the largest supplier of wind power in the nation, insisted for years it wouldn't build a wind farm in Florida because the state's breezes weren't strong enough. That changed last year when, under pressure from Gov. Charlie Crist and the public to move toward green energy, the utility announced plans for a small wind project near the Atlantic coast in St. Lucie County.

The environmentally conscious customers who gave Florida Power & Light $11.4 million for green energy did not get their money's worth, according to a state report released Monday. The critical 19-page recommendation from the staff of Florida's Public Service Commission found widespread problems with the Sunshine Energy Program, from "highly excessive" administrative and marketing costs to millions of dollars spent on renewable energy development outside Florida. "If the Sunshine Energy Program is to continue, the program must be redesigned to address state renewable energy policies and to better serve the interest of the program's participants," the report found.

The bulk of the $9.5 million raised in FPL's Sunshine Energy Program between 2004 and 2007 was paid to a contractor in Texas for salaries, office expenses, business travel, research, marketing and a public relations consultant to administer the program, according to the audit findings. Auditors estimated that the contractor, Green Mountain, has spent about $2.2 million - 25.9 percent - to purchase and develop renewable energy. ... The Public Service Commission's probe of the program began in September with requests to the company for documents and explanations. FPL repeatedly responded by filing records under seal, saying the requested documents were "proprietary business information" and "contractual vendor data."

Florida Power & Light Co.'s proposal to put six wind turbines on company-owned property near the St. Lucie Nuclear Plant might affect several threatened species of wildlife, according to a recently released analysis by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. According to the findings, FPL's proposal would have "a substantial adverse impact" on federally managed fisheries in the south Atlantic region and wetlands, the report states.

The commission's probe of the program began in September when it asked FPL for documents and explanations of how it has spent about $10 million collected from the program's 38,000 subscribers. Again and again, FPL filed requests to keep its records confidential, saying they contain "proprietary business information" and "contractual vendor data." But FPL records not under seal show that out-of-state renewable energy companies benefited more from the Sunshine Energy Program than did Florida companies. "I think it's disappointing for FPL customers who fully expected and assumed they were putting their hard-earned money into developing renewable energy in Florida," said Holly Binns, field director of the nonprofit environmental group Environment Florida. "This is one example of why voluntary green energy programs aren't sufficient to develop a renewable energy economy here."

As Florida Power & Light Co. gets closer to a public hearing on its wind turbine plan, skeptics of the project have plenty of questions left unanswered. What about the effect on birds? Or sea turtles? And why put turbines in St. Lucie County in the first place? Nick Blount, external affairs manager for FPL on the Treasure Coast, tried to answer some of those questions from about 20 members of the St. Lucie County Conservation Alliance on Wednesday night and promised to try to find answers to others raised by residents. "I respect people's opinion about our wind project, but what I do want to do is tell our side of the story," Blount said. "That's what we want."

Florida Power & Light Co.'s controversial plan to bring six wind turbines to the island got a boost on Monday from the National Resources Defense Council. Nathanael Greene, director of renewable energy policy for the New York-based group, wrote a letter to commissioners touting the potential for wind energy in the state and asking that FPL receive a fair hearing. "We support the development of properly sited wind power as a component of our clean energy policy in Florida," he wrote.

The Save St. Lucie Alliance started a Legal Defense Fund this week in the hopes of hiring a land-use attorney who can represent residents opposed to putting six wind machines on FPL property near the St. Lucie Nuclear Plant. The group had raised $3,600 by Friday and has a goal of raising $10,000, which is the amount they estimate might be needed through a final County Commission hearing on the project. "We're leaving no stone unturned," said Julie Zahniser, an Indian River Drive resident who leads the alliance. "We want to make sure we preserve our legal rights in the event the Board of County Commissioners approve it. Then we'll be positioned to take it one step further."

A new study projects average wind speeds on Hutchinson Island would be strong enough for Florida Power & Light Co.'s wind turbine plan to work, the company announced Tuesday. The study was done by WindLogics Inc., a company owned by FPL Energy, a sister company to FPL. The findings project the average wind speed would be 13.8 mph, enough to generate 13.8 megawatts of power or enough electricity for about 3,600 people, according to a company news release. ...Julie Zahniser, head of the Save St. Lucie Alliance, and others opposed to the project said they believe there is not enough wind to make the turbines economically viable, that they would be built in an environmentally-sensitive location and that it's going to devalue local properties.

Two weeks after scaling back a plan to put wind turbines on Hutchinson Island, Florida Power & Light Co. officials released a survey Wednesday attesting to what they say is broad support across St. Lucie County for the more modest proposal. But wind turbine opponents questioned the survey results, with some claiming that the timing of their release was a sign that public opinion might be turning against the power company's $45 million plan to build the first wind farm in the southeastern United States. ..."It's unlikely FPL would have taken this step had public opinion been running their way," Linowes wrote in an e-mail to opponents of the FPL plan. For example, Linowes said, a proposal to put wind turbines on public land in Maryland met strong opposition. After public hearings, the company pitching the turbines released a public opinion poll.

In the future, going to catch a few waves or taking the dog for a walk at Walton Rocks beach might involve driving past a wind turbine first. Although public lands are no longer being considered for Florida Power & Light Co.'s wind turbines proposal, three of the remaining six machines would be near public beach access at Walton Rocks. All six are proposed for FPL property near the St. Lucie Nuclear Plant. Although FPL officials said Tuesday they would keep public access to the site, it remains a concern for the Treasure Coast chapter of the Surfrider Foundation, a nonprofit organization devoted to conservation efforts to protect beaches and the ocean. Walton Rocks is a popular surfing spot and Andy Brady, the chapter's current chairman, said he's been riding waves there for about 30 years.

Since FPL proposed the wind farm last summer, fierce grass-roots opposition has arisen. "The more I learn, the more I question whether wind energy makes sense anywhere in Florida," said St. Lucie County Commissioner Doug Coward. "I'm sure other local governments will go through the same learning curve." ...Calling the wind proposal a "feel-good project" designed to oblige [FL Governor] Crist, Eric Draper, policy director of Audubon of Florida, said the awareness it has generated will doom wind energy anywhere in Florida. "The wind is on the coast, where you only have environmentally sensitive land, and people who want to live by it or use it for recreation," Draper said. "They are not going to want to see these facilities on their beaches."

Florida Power & Light, the nation's largest provider of wind energy, says placing nine of these behemoths across from its St. Lucie Nuclear Power Plant -- three on beachfront state conservation land and six on property the company owns -- would power 3,000 homes. And the company thinks the sight of the giant turbines would stimulate demand for similar wind farms across the state by a citizenry eager to do its part to halt global warming. But the $61 million project, awarded a $2.5 million state grant, is generating far more heat than light, and prospects for its survival appear dim. Since FPL unveiled the proposal last summer, it has given rise to fierce grass-roots opposition -- and raised serious doubts about the feasibility of wind energy in the Sunshine State.

A majority of county commissioners now are against putting wind turbines at Blind Creek Park, which sends a "strong signal" to Florida Power & Light Co. they should reconsider the site, Commission Chairman Joe Smith said Friday. Commissioner Paula Lewis said Friday she is against FPL putting three wind machines on the state-owned land that is managed by the county. She said she was swayed by staff memos that said it would be impossible to replace the unique archaeological and ecological land lost at Blind Creek Park by the project. "Staff's input was there was no way to replace Blind Creek," she said. "It just isn't the place." ...Grande said he thinks it's still worth having a commission meeting devoted solely to the project and said he would definitely cast a vote one way or the other at that time. "If we turn it down, we should turn it down as quickly as possible," he said.

The county commissioner who was most supportive of bringing wind turbines to the county is now against it. Commissioner Chris Craft, who encouraged Florida Power & Light Co. to look at the county for its wind turbine proposal, announced during Tuesday's commission meeting that he no longer supports the project. He said his decision wasn't based on the debate over public lands but on whether it would have a net positive effect for the environment. "I think this has been and will continue to be the most important issue we have debated on this board," Craft said.