In 2017, Artiles ended up in the headlines again over his ceremonial role at a NASCAR event sponsored by NextEra, where he waved the starting flag in a NextEra branded jacket, pictures of which he posted on his Facebook page. About NextEra Energy NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE: NEE) is a leading clean energy company headquartered in Juno Beach, Florida. NextEra Energy is a total fraud, and veritably a criminal entity. There is no word on whether the internal investigationaddressed efforts associated with Operation Ginger., Copyright 2021 US TIMES NOW Cream Magazine by Themebeez, NextEra Energy (NE) is currently under investigation by the Florida Department of Law, SSD enabled fast speed data processing in Europe based VPS Server Hosting from TheServerHost, Ace DJ Artist talent DJ Nitin(NG) aka Nitin Gaikwad is Gaining Global Popularity As An Wedding DJ, Spotify is introducing a new and improved plus button in place of its heart icon, Palantir will eliminate 75 jobs or about 2% of the employees, Dr. Malda Aldaoudi consider Lifted Eyebrows and Fox Eye Lift as the latest trends. Its not clear yet whether law enforcement officials are investigating FPL or its executives for their involvement in the ghost candidate scheme, though the scandal has already resulted in criminal charges for some of its parties. Access unmatched financial data, news and content in a highly-customised workflow experience on desktop, web and mobile. Their power over utilities in Florida was challenged by legislation proposed by the Democratic Senator of Florida, Jos Javier Rodrguez, in 2019. Eskamani of Orlando said Baezs response left her unsatisfied. According to reporting from the Orlando Sentinel, a broad criminal investigation is underway in Miami, with felony charges against former Senator Frank Artiles, and the spoiler candidate in District 37 has pled guilty. The second Defendant, Cottonwood Wind . "Even if you put somebody who is a perfectly fine individual with a financial background and doesn't have this aggressive history it doesn't necessarily make up for the fact of all that did happen in very recent history," Schafer said. In one Orlando Sentinel article, Silagy was accused of working with a political consultant to harass a Democratic state senator who introduced legislation unfavorable to FP&L. In 2018, state Sen. Keith Perry won re-election against Democrat Kayser Enneking by about 2,000 votes, due in large part to a third-party former Democrat candidate likely pulling votes away from Enneking. Where did the $4 million paid by FPL to consultants working with Grow United, the nonprofit organization that funded the ghost candidate advertising, originate from and what was it spent on? Numerous studies have shown that rooftop solar provides a net-benefit to other, non-solar customers. We take all allegations seriously, and weve found no evidence that either FPL or our employees had any involvement in, financially supported, or directed any third party to support ghost candidates during last years Florida election cycle, he said. NextEra boasts that it is a green energy leader and the world's largest generator of wind energy all true but its assets are not all green. CTRL + SPACE for auto-complete. In California, Wait Lists for EV Rebates Are Long and Some Programs Have Shut Down: California needs to ramp up sales of electric vehicles to take on climate change and reduce air pollution, but consumers are having trouble navigating the states incentives and rebates, as Nadia Lopez reports for CalMatters. 10 Takeaways from the IEA's Newest World Energy Outlook. He pointed to some of NextEras conduct outside of Florida, like its opposition to a power line in Maine that would have delivered renewable energy from Canada and harmed the market for a nuclear plant co-owned by the company. By continuing to use this site, you accept this policy. That political power has helped FPL to secure a return on equity of 10.6% in the latest rate increases that it secured from regulators much higher than the national average for utilities. Simpson, through the FRSCC, then paid $7.2 million of this money to longtime ally Pat Bainterand Gainesville, Florida-based Republican campaign firm Data Targeting, reportedly directingthem to use the funds to support three independent candidates who would run as purportedliberals to siphon votes away from the legitimate Democrat Party candidate. FPL has said it was not fully aware of what its consultant was doing, and it has cast doubt on some of the reporting. An early adopter of renewable power generation, NextEra is the third-largest U.S. energy company by market capitalization behind Exxon Mobil (XOM.N) and Chevron (CVX.N). The settlement is the end result of a . NextEra Energy CEO James Robo responded to a question from a Bank of America Securities analyst and said the company had FPL CEO Eric Silagy turn over emails and text messages and concluded. FPLs response as well as the statements provided for the docket by the staff involved in the rate case audit, leave many questions and concerns for our constituents and Floridians at large, the legislators wrote. In 2017, Perry voted in support of NextEras exploratory fracking legislation while serving on the Communications, Energy and Public Utilities Committee chaired by Artiles. All three districts received slightly modified versions of the same mailer, which seemed to target liberal-leaning voters in an apparent effort to siphon those votes away from the Democratic candidate. FPLs relationship with two political nonprofit committees Grow United and Lets Preserve the American Dream has come under recent scrutiny as part of a criminal investigation by the Miami-Dade County state attorney into a ghost candidate scandal. This reporting has raised significant questions around the potential of ratepayer funds being used to not only influence elections but to undermine democracy through fake candidate schemes, astroturfing, and attempted bribes, wrote state Reps. Anna Eskamani, Carlos Guillermo Smith, Angie Nixon and Travaris McCurdy. On January 24th, the stock of renewables pioneer NextEra - now the U.S.'s largest utility company - dropped 8.8% on news the head of its FP&L unit was retiring. A look at the changing global population. Contacted for a response, a NextEra spokesman did not address the issues at FPL or the potential for blowback for the parent company, but he did point to recent comments from Kirk Crews, NextEras chief financial officer. He helped build NextEra Energy Resources and seemed to choose his retirement as opposed to being forced out, the former colleague said. NextEra Energy announces agreement to sell a 50% interest in an approximately 2,520-megawatt portfolio renewables project to a third party, highlighting the value of its best-in-class development program. If trust in NextEra dwindlesand seemingly it has, if stock recommendations are anything to judge bypeople might be less willing to consider the installation of a wind farm in their community. Florida utilities donated nearly $1.5 million to FRSCC in the 2020 cycle. Write CSS OR LESS and hit save. Armando Pimentel, who held executive roles in finance at NextEra for more than a decade before retiring in 2019, is coming back in what investors hope will mark the end of FP&Ls era of political and campaign-finance scandals. The papers also reported that a member of the Jacksonville City Council who didnt want to sell the citys utility company to FPL was offered a job that was arranged by consultants for FPL in an unsuccessful attempt to get him to resign from the commission. Community Solar Is About to Get a Surge in Federal Funding. Bradley and McClure have both taken tens of thousands of dollars in political contributions from Floridas investor-owned utilities. Build the strongest argument relying on authoritative content, attorney-editor expertise, and industry defining technology. Armando Pimentel, who held executive roles in finance at NextEra for more than a decade before retiring in 2019, is coming back in what investors hope will mark the end of FP&L's era of . We deliver climate news to your inbox like nobody else. We got into this program and its not helping like its supposed to, said Quintin Nelms, who has faced a long wait for his rebate. You can keep up with her work on her site Environment.co. In a Jan. 5 letter, they asked the commission to determine whether the company was using ratepayer money for political purposes. AIF has close financial ties to Floridas investor owned utilities, as EPI has documented. At NextEras fourth-quarter earnings call with financial analysts, Julien Patrick Dumoulin-Smith of Bank of America Securities asked Robo if he could share around some of the headlines pertaining to FPL here? The shady business practices of FPL, as well as the discrepancy between NextEra being a catalyst in the clean energy movement while FPL relies on fossil fuels, may not bode well. The Orlando Sentinel connected Republican consultant Alex Alvarado to the production and printing of the mailers for the third-party candidates in October. Consumers for Energy Fairness does not have a website or any public presence, but it spent over $5,000 with the public affairs firm McNicholas & Associates on beverages and food in 2019. Since then, the legislature replaced the previous leader of that office, J.R. Kelly, with a former utility lobbyist, Richard Gentry. The reporting also found that the same FPL consultants have been involved in setting up front groups to advance FPLs political agenda, and paid activists to promote FPLs interests. Alissa Jean Schafer is a research and communications specialist at the Energy and Policy Institute. The reporting also found that the same FPL consultants have been involved in setting up front groups to advance FPLs political agenda, and paid activists to promote FPLs interests. He came to ICN in 2018 after a nine-year tenure at The Columbus Dispatch, where he covered the business of energy. Shares of NextEra sank late last month by nearly 9%, their biggest daily drop in more than two years, after the company abruptly announced Silagy would retire under the threat of a formal. The history of scandals by FPL and parent company NextEra ushers in a wave of concern about what the future of clean energy and future sustainability programs could look like. Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles. Siemens Gamesa, a Leading Maker of Wind Turbines, Is Struggling: Wind turbine maker Siemens Gamesa lowered its financial outlook for 2022 and said it expects to lose money this year and next as it deals with high costs of raw materials and tough competition. Reuters, the news and media division of Thomson Reuters, is the worlds largest multimedia news provider, reaching billions of people worldwide every day. Sign up for Mary Ellens newsletter Politics and Policy in the Sunshine State. His political committee, Veterans for Conservative Principles, received nearly $13,000 from NextEra and $5,000 from Duke. A dark money non-profit called Grow United is at the center of the scandal, with records showing direct communication with and invoices to FPL. Internal documents obtained by the Sentinel show that Silagy used a pseudonym email Theodore Hayes to communicate with consultant Jeff Pitts, who controlled Grow United, with the memos noting that one goal was to minimize all public reporting of entities and activities.. NextEra Energy Inc., the largest U.S. utility by market cap and one of the world's top solar and wind power producers, has been called out for never declaring a net-zero emissions target like many other major power utilities have done. I dont have very many neighbors talk to me anymore, said Mark Schein, a retired farmer who upset people by leasing his property for the project, along with about a dozen others in the community. Each wind energy facility includes a collection of wind turbines that, put simply, rapidly rotate to create energy. Attack on Rooftop Solar Im eager to see whats yet to come, and whether it leads to changes in the way FPL does business. Florida Power & Light has a monopoly on power in Florida. Consultants who control Grow United billed FPL for over $3 million before the entity started moving funds around for the election scheme. Dan Gearino covers the midwestern United States, part of ICNs National Environment Reporting Network. Canopy quickly filed its own lawsuit against Matrix. The company was trading well above its peers before news that Silagy would leave his post this month and depart the company in mid-May. A lot is riding on NextEra in the race to clean energy. We have welcomed Armando Pimentel back to our company and have confidence that he will use his deep industry and company experience to further strengthen the FPL organization, NextEra Energy spokesperson David Reuter said. Pulitzer Prize-winning, nonpartisan reporting on the biggest crisis facing our planet. News images are from video content on CNNs YouTube Channel. "I don't think you're going to see any headlines like that (with Pimentel).". racial slurs directed at black members of the Florida Legislature. NextEra Energy owns Florida Power & Light Company, which is America's largest electric utility that sells more power than any other utility, providing clean, affordable, reliable electricity to approximately 5.8 million customer accounts, or more than 12 million . ESI Energy LLC, Wholly Owned Subsidiary of Nextera Energy Resources LLC, Is Sentenced After Pleading Guilty to Killing and Wounding Eagles in Its Wind Energy Operations, in Violation of the Migratory Bird Treaty Act | USAO-EDCA | Department of Justice Share Department of Justice U.S. Attorney's Office Eastern District of California TALLAHASSEE Recent revelations about Florida Power & Lights involvement in a dark money scheme to siphon votes away from Senate Democratic candidates prompted its parent company to conduct an internal investigation, NextEra announced at an earnings call Tuesday. Some of thislike turning a news website into a mouthpiece for the utility or surveilling a newspaper columnist in the hopes of catching him doing something embarrassingsounds like the stuff of conspiracy theories. Robo responded: Sure, Julian, I think you know, on some of the Florida political headlines I think what Id like to say on that is pretty simple., He said that when the company received the report and those allegations that have been in the press, we conducted a very extensive and thorough investigation that included looking at company financial records and include looking at everyone who was named and its company emails. He said those involved all provided access to their personal emails and texts to us as part of that investigation., He concluded: The bottom line is we found no evidence of any issues at all, any illegality, or any wrongdoing on the part of FPL or any of its employees., Robo added that he felt very good about the investigation that we did, and I feel very good that there is, you know, no basis to any of these allegations. For example, Richard Alexander, who lives in Cullman, Alabama, not only chairs Grow United, he also has been tied to groups that were created to promote the agenda of Floridas powerful sugar and electric utilities industries, according to the Orlando Sentinel. Dan Gearinos habit-forming weekly take on how to understand the energy transformation reshaping our world. This effort takes a lot of resources to gather and update. That scheme included over half a million dollars spent on political mailers promoting the spoiler candidates. 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