SunSentinel Mention

August 14, 2020

Peter Moore, P.E., F.ASCE, ENV SP, LEED AP

President, Chen Moore and Associates

Last week: Last week, the nominating council for the Public Service Commission (PSC) sent four names to Gov. DeSantis for appointment of an expiring term. The list included three outgoing state legislators and one engineer. While I understand that the PSC must review a wide range of topics that aren’t all technical, three legislators jumping on the $132,000 per year part-time job is something that appears to be ready for failure. I believe that these positions should have requirements for technical competence. They sign off on all our utility rates, do we want politics in that role?

Looking ahead: The Public Service Commission (PSC) has a history of over 130 years in the State of Florida. Last week, the nominating council sent four names to Governor DeSantis. The Governor now has 30 days from then to nominate the next member. The member that currently holds the seat is the only engineer currently on the PSC. I’m not saying all 12 members should be engineers, but I’d like to think that one of 12 members of the group that regulates energy, water, sewer, gas and, to some extent telecom ought to be. Please keep at least one engineer, governor!

SunSentinel Mention

August 7, 2020

Peter Moore, P.E., F.ASCE, ENV SP, LEED AP

President, Chen Moore and Associates

Last week: Last week, while most people in South Florida experienced the first “in the times of COVID” hurricane preparation, the folks at SpaceX were trying to bring two Americans back to earth safely. With the first water landing in 45 years and with the two astronauts being healthy and safe, SpaceX continues to prove that NASA’s desire to be a Low Earth orbit space customer rather than a space agency is a solid decision. It was very nice to see that some truly important scientific work is still being done while the rest of the world is going crazy.

Looking ahead: With [Director of the United States Census Bureau] Steven Dillingham’s statement last week about delivering a complete and accurate 2020 Census count, the next several weeks are going to be critical. Census workers visiting populations that haven’t self-reported are going into high gear and the date for the end of data collection hasn’t changed from Sept 30. Mobile applications on tablets and phones are pushing efficiency, but we need to assist them. With a national response rate of 63.1% and a statewide response rate of 60.1%, the current 58.4% response rate isn’t going to work. We’ll lose our fair share of important dollars.

SunSentinel Mention

July 17, 2020

Peter Moore, P.E., F.ASCE, ENV SP, LEED AP

President, Chen Moore and Associates

Last week: Last week, the governor announced $8.6 million in funding to strengthen Florida’s electric vehicle infrastructure. With this funding, 74 additional DC fast chargers will be installed statewide. Combined with the chargers FDOT is installing along the Florida Turnpike, a total of 104 DC fast chargers will be installed along over 1,200 miles of highway, covering the most traveled corridors in the state. Each of the 34 locations will have at minimum two chargers each. This represents an approximately 50% statewide increase in publicly available DC charging stations. Let’s keep it going!

Looking ahead: Next week is the Florida Environmental Network (FENI) Environmental Permitting Summer School. This annual event is a heavy hitter in the development, environmental and engineering circles. One of the few events still intending to be held in person in our industry is always a great source of information on overall trends in the state. I hope all my friends in attendance learn a great deal and stay safe!