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Each day focuses on a specific weather event. Monday’s focus is on lightning.

Lightning is one of nature’s most unpredictable weather phenomena. Meteorologists can forecast the general conditions that cause lightning, but no one can forecast the exact location or time of the next strike of lightning.

All thunderstorms contain lightning which can strike a person, tree or an object either on the ground or in the air. Lightning is among the top causes of weather-related fatalities in the United States. It kills nearly 60 people each year, and in Florida alone the average is seven fatalities per year. Lightning is often underrated as a life-threatening hazard, as it does not generate the same attention as compared to other forms of hazardous weather.

The 2012 Florida Severe Weather Awareness Week is a perfect time to note that our state, of all 50 states, is the lightning capital of the country. Averaging 1.4 million cloud-to-ground lightning strikes each year, no other state experiences more lightning strikes than Florida. Why does Florida have this distinction? Florida’s geography plays a large role, especially during the summer. Some of the elements that make Florida such a great place to live, such as sunshine and the ocean, play important roles in the development of thunderstorms. Thunderstorm activity peaks in the summer months in Florida, when most people are enjoying the warm weather, often causing the greatest number of lightning fatalities in a single state each year in the United States.

One characteristic that makes lightning so dangerous is its extensive range. Lightning has the ability to strike more than 10 miles away from the thunderstorm core, making it the first storm hazard to arrive and the last to leave, so while it may not be raining at your location, lightning can still reach you.

DID YOU KNOW? Contrary to belief, lightning CAN strike the same place twice and rubber shoes or tires DO NOT protect you from lightning strikes.

Thunder is a product of lightning. As lighting moves between the ground and thunderstorm, the air around the flash heats rapidly, to temperatures as high as 50,000°F – a temperature hotter than the surface of the sun. This sudden heating creates expansion of the air around the lightning bolt at speeds greater than the speed of sound. The expanding air breaks the sound barrier resulting in the explosive sound we know as thunder. Thunder is really just another form of a sonic boom. Because sound travels much slower than light, thunder is always heard after a flash of lightning.

Thunder travels at the speed of sound, which is roughly one mile every five seconds. You can determine how far away a flash of lightning is by counting the number of seconds that pass after observing a lightning bolt. For every five seconds that elapse, the lightning is one mile away. For example, if it takes 15 seconds for the thunder to reach you, then the lightning strike occurred about three miles away.

A “Bolt from the Blue” lightning strike is a flash which travels a relatively large distance in clear air away from the parent thunderstorm and then strikes the ground. These lightning flashes have been documented more than 25 miles away from the thunderstorm cloud. These events can be especially dangerous, as they appear to come from “clear blue sky.” Remember that if you can hear thunder, you are close enough to be struck by lightning. Being observant when outside is your first line of defense with lightning. A darkening cloud building high in the sky is often the first sign that lightning could occur.

Nearly half of all lightning deaths occur in open areas. Many people are struck when they go under a tree to keep dry during a storm. Outdoor water activities such as swimming, boating and fishing are equally as dangerous during lightning storms. Therefore, when thunderstorms are approaching, avoid outdoor activities as if your life depends on it – because it does!

The main tip to remember regarding lightning safety is: Seek shelter immediately because being outside is never safe during a thunderstorm!

At the first sign of lightning or sound of thunder, you should immediately head inside an enclosed structure. Even while inside, it is important to stay away from windows, any corded electrical devices and running water from faucets. Lightning can easily travel along phone lines, through other electrical devices and even through underground plumbing. The electrical current running through the wires or water can still electrocute a person while inside a building. When you can’t make it to an enclosed building, your next best course of action is to get into a vehicle with a hard-topped roof.

Although the National Weather Service does not issue specific lightning warnings, products such as the Hazardous Weather Outlook can indicate the threat levels for lightning in your area on any given day. Checking the forecast before venturing outside can help make the difference between life and death.

Lightning Safety Awareness Week is June 24 – 30, 2012 and more information about lightning hazards and what you can do to protect yourself and others can be found at www.lightningsafety.noaa.gov and www.FloridaDisaster.org.

The Southern Alliance for Clean Energy, which said last month that it would challenge such nuclear charges in the Florida Supreme Court, declined to enter the settlement agreement announced Friday by Progress and consumer and business representatives.

Progress and the other parties are asking the Florida Public Service Commission for relatively quick approval of the agreement. In part, the settlement would allow Progress to collect $350 million from customers over five years for the Levy County project, refund $288 million related to a controversial nuclear plant repair in Crystal River and increase base electric rates by $150 million.

Stephen A. Smith, executive director of the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy, described the charges for the Levy County project and similar charges for Florida Power & Light projects as a “nuclear tax scam.”

Smith told reporters during a conference call that he welcomed the $288 million in refunds of what are known as replacement power costs, which stem from the shutdown at the Crystal River nuclear plant. But he also expressed concerns that the settlement nudges Progress toward bringing the troubled plant back online and running the risk of “throwing good money after bad.”

The Southern Alliance, which takes part in utility issues in Florida and four other states, held the conference call primarily to discuss its decision to challenge nuclear costs in the Supreme Court. Those costs have long been controversial because utility customers are paying for nuclear plants that won’t start operating for another decade, if ever.

But the conference call also came three days after the Progress settlement agreement was announced. Just an hour before the Southern Alliance call, top Progress executives held another call with Wall Street analysts to discuss the settlement, which had been in the works for months.

Vincent Dolan, president and chief executive officer of the Florida subsidiary of North Carolina based Progress Energy, said the settlement addresses three major issues looming for the company the Levy nuclear project, the Crystal River repair project and a base rate case that would have played out over months.

Progress officials say the settlement will give the company certainty about those issues, while also helping hold down customer costs. Bottom line, if the settlement is approved, a residential customer who uses 1,000 kilowatt hours of electricity a month would pay an additional $4.93 starting in 2013.

The Crystal River repairs were a key topic during the company’s conference call with Wall Street analysts. A containment building at the plant was first damaged in 2009 during a project to replace a steam generator.

Last year, as the plant was being prepared to operate again, a concrete separation was discovered in a different part of the containment building. That kept the plant shut down and led to questions about whether Progress mishandled the project and whether costs should be passed on to customers.

The settlement’s $288 million in customer refunds represents money that has gone toward buying or generating other sources of power to replace the lost production at Crystal River.

Bill Johnson, chairman and chief executive officer of the parent Progress Energy, said during the conference call that the company will wait for more engineering work and a bidding process to determine how it will address the Crystal River plant.

If Progress starts repair work before the end of 2012, the other parties would not challenge the decision or the repair plans, according to the settlement. But it also remains possible that Progress will choose to retire the plant, instead of repair it.
By Jim Saunders

Alberta Tar Sands - (Photo: WWF-UK/Report: Unconventional Oil:Scraping the Bottom of the Barrel?)

Although Obama left the door open on the $7 billion project, he said it was the “rushed and arbitrary deadline insisted on by Congressional Republicans” which prevented a proper assessment of the pipeline’s impact in terms of health and safety on Americans and on the environment.

“This announcement is not a judgment on the merits of the pipeline, but the arbitrary nature of a deadline that prevented the State Department from gathering the information necessary to approve the project and protect the American people,” Obama said in a statement. “I’m disappointed that Republicans in Congress forced this decision, but it does not change my Administration’s commitment to American-made energy that creates jobs and reduces our dependence on oil.”

Republicans reacted swiftly to the denial of the application with House Speaker John Boehner charging that Obama was destroying jobs.

“President Obama is destroying tens of thousands of American jobs and shipping American energy security to the Chinese,” said Boehner, slate.com reports. “The president is selling out American jobs for politics.”

Noting that domestic oil and natural gas production is up while imports of foreign oil are down, Obama said over the coming month, efforts would continue on finding new ways to partner with the oil and gas industry to increase America’s energy security, including the “potential development of an oil pipeline from Cushing, Oklahoma to the Gulf of Mexico.”

Savanna pines (Pinus elliottii var. densa) in Everglades National Park. (Photo Credit: Brian Beckage/UVM)

The new refuge and conservation area – the 556th unit of the National Wildlife Refuge System – is being established with the support of local ranchers, farmers and landowners who are working cooperatively with Interior and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to conserve the wildlife values on their lands while retaining their right to raise livestock or crops, an approach championed by the Obama administration.

If fully realized, the refuge and conservation area will span 150,000 acres north of Lake Okeechobee. Two-thirds of the acreage, or 100,000 acres, will be protected through conservation easements purchased from willing sellers. With easements, private landowners retain ownership of their land, as well as the ability to continue farming or ranching the land. The easements would ensure the land could not be subdivided or developed.

“This is an outstanding example of the 21st century approach to conservation envisioned by President Obama when he unveiled his America’s Great Outdoors initiative last year,” Salazar said. “Working in close partnership with landowners, we are taking a major step to safeguard the long-term health of the Everglades in the Kissimmee Valley, while ensuring the area’s ranching and farming heritage and economy remain strong. Just as we have done in Kansas, Montana and the Dakotas, our locally-driven, cooperative approach to conserving the Everglades Headwaters will help grow a robust outdoor recreation economy for central Florida, while preserving ranchers’ rights to live off the land.”

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), which manages the National Wildlife Refuge System, is working closely with ranchers and other private landowners, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission and other state agencies, conservation organizations, users’ groups, Native American tribes and federal agencies in the creation of the new refuge and conservation area.

“We are inspired by the excellent conservation opportunities that exist here as a result of the efforts of our ranching community to protect working lands across generations,” said Service Director Dan Ashe. “The extraordinary vision of our many partners will help protect significant wildlife species while supporting a way of life that is vital to our citizens. This effort will restore wetlands in the headwaters area, preserve working ranches, and support a healthy environment for central and south Florida, as well as increase opportunities to hunt, fish, hike, bird watch, and learn about the importance of this landscape.”

The establishment of the new refuge and conservation area is one of a series of conservation projects under the Obama administration to work locally with landowners, conservation stakeholders, and state, tribal and local governments to conserve vital habitat on working landscapes. These include:

-The million-acre Flint Hills Legacy Conservation Area in Kansas – the first new unit of the National Wildlife Refuge System authorized under the Obama administration, which will help maintain the integrity of tallgrass prairie wildlife habitat, stream water quality and the agricultural heritage of the Flint Hills;

-The proposed Dakota Grassland Conservation Area, which will conserve prairie landscapes, wildlife resources and working lands in the Prairie Pothole Region, an area that supports more than half of the nation’s migratory waterfowl; and

-The successful community-based conservation initiatives taking place in the Crown of the Continent, a vast and intact landscape that includes portions of northwestern Montana as well as British Columbia and Alberta.

The Everglades, which receives water from the Kissimmee River Valley, will benefit from the conservation and restoration of its headwaters through enhanced water quality, quantity and storage.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service held six public meetings in 2011 to gather input on the proposal; collected written comments; and met with representatives of local, state and federal agencies, as well as Native American tribes.

Salazar announced the Service’s intent to evaluate this area in January 2011 and proposed to establish the new refuge and conservation area last September. During 2011, the Service received more than 40,000 comments on the proposal, the overwhelming majority of which expressed support.

Additional details on the Everglades Headwaters National Wildlife Refuge and Conservation Area are available here.

As a summit on Evergaldes restoration that will include Gov. Rick Scott and Interior Secretary Ken Salazar gets underway in Tallahassee, the Everglades Foundation has released a poll that shows most Floridians favor spending more on restoring the ecosystem.

The poll of 607 registered voters conducted by The Tarrance Group found 64 percent said they favor increased Everglades restoration spending, up from just 51 percent early last year.

Scott will speak at the summit, as will Salazar, former U.S. Sen. Bob Graham, Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam and golfer Jack Nicklaus.

The same poll also asked respondents about the presidential race, and found Republican Mitt Romney in a general election dead heat with President Obama, with about 45 percent of respondents liking each and 9 percent undecided.

Everglades water way on a rainy afternoon

On Tuesday, Salazar and Ashe will join U.S. Senator Bill Nelson along the Tamiami Trail just outside of Miami to make a python announcement. Later on, Salazar will attend the Everglades Foundation “Everglades Water Supply Summit” in Tallahassee where he will identify next steps in the restoration of the Florida Everglades during a panel discussion entitled, “What’s Next.”

On Wednesday, Salazar and Ashe will conclude their trip in Haines City with Senator Nelson where they will make an important announcement regarding the proposed Everglades Headwaters National Wildlife Refuge and Conservation Area.

EVENT 1: Florida Everglades Python Announcement

WHO: Ken Salazar, Secretary of the Interior

Dan Ashe, Director, U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service

Bill Nelson, U.S. Senator

WHAT: Florida Everglades Python Announcement

WHEN: Tuesday, January 17, 2012

8:45 a.m. EDT

WHERE: S-333 pumping structure, located about eight miles west of the new Tamiami Bridge on Tamiami Trail
EVENT 2: Everglades Water Supply Summit

WHO: Ken Salazar, Secretary of the Interior

Adam Putnam, Commissioner, Florida Department of Agriculture

Mike Haridopolos, President, Florida State Senate

Paul Tudor Jones, Chairman, the Everglades Foundation

WHAT: Everglades Water Supply Summit

WHEN: Tuesday, January 17, 2012

3:00 p.m. EDT

WHERE: Augustus B. Turnbull III Florida State Conference Center

555 West Pensacola Street

Tallahassee, FL 32306-1640

*room 208
EVENT 3: Proposed Everglades Headwaters National Wildlife Refuge and Conservation Area Announcement

WHO: Ken Salazar, Secretary of the Interior

Dan Ashe, Director, U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service

Bill Nelson, U.S. Senator

WHAT: Proposed Everglades Headwaters National Wildlife Refuge and Conservation Area

WHEN: Wednesday, January 18, 2012

10:00 a.m. EDT

WHERE: Florida Chapter’s Future Farmers of America Training Center

5000 Firetower Road

Haines City, Florida 33844

863-439-7332

View of engine, USS Narcissus (Photo courtesy: Florida Aquarium)

The site, in just 15 feet of water near Egmont Key in the mouth of Tampa Bay, would be the 12th such preserve in Florida waters if given final approval by the Department of State after getting public input.

The state Bureau of Archaeological Research has determined that USS Narcissus meets necessary criteria to be made a preserve, and if so designated the site would be made more accessible and better interpreted for divers, with brochures, posters, underwater maps and a website.

The site is near one of the busiest shipping lanes in the nation, heading into Tampa Bay. The tugboat was lost in a storm Jan. 3, 1866, but before that was an interesting historical footnote.

The vessel, which belonged to the US Navy, was present at the Battle of Mobile Bay – the battle during which Admiral David Farragut said “Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead.” She sank while on her way to New York to be decomissioned, when her boiler exploded killing all hands.

“The USS Narcissus provides not only a fascinating underwater preserve to explore, it also offers a unique and adventurous look into our nation’s naval history,” said Secretary Browning. “The site would be an exciting addition to Florida’s underwater archeological preserves.”

Everglades National Park

Specifically, lawmakers approved funding for 5.5 miles of additional bridges along the Tamiami Trail, which will elevate portions of the trans-glades route to allow more natural water flow into Everglades National Park.

The federal spending bill totaled $142 million, including $96.9 million for clean-up projects in the region and another $45.6 million for the Kissimmee River restoration.

“This has been a pretty rough year for bipartisanship in Washington on many levels,” said Kirk Fordham, CEO of the Everglades Foundation. “The Everglades is really a shining star in terms of a policy area where we continue to see bipartisan support.”

Progress Energy Florida - Crystal River

The proposed mega-merger of Progress Energy and Duke Energy has run into federal objections that, at a minimum, appear likely to delay the deal.

The Associated Press reported that the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission late Wednesday rejected the companies’ proposals to deal with concerns about how the merger would affect competition in the North Carolina and South Carolina markets.

The North Carolina-based utilities had planned to complete the merger by the end of the year, but an industry analyst told AP that the regulatory action likely will delay it by about three months.

The analyst also raised the possibility that the utilities could scrap the deal because of the government demands.

The regulatory issues have not focused on Progress Energy Florida, a Progress subsidiary that is the state’s second-largest electric utility.

Port of Miami (Photo Courtesy: Port of Miami)

The opponents, including the Tropical Audubon Society, Biscayne Bay Waterkeeper, Inc., and the Fisher Island Community Association, contend the dredging project will endanger water quality, pose a threat to endangered and protected species and undermine a Fisher Island seawall.

The Florida Department of Environmental Protection announced earlier this year it would approve a permit for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to move forward with the project.

Three legal challenges filed by the opponents were sent Friday to the state Division of Administrative Hearings.

“Should the permit and variances be issued, there will be substantial impacts to water quality, the coral reefs, fish and other marine wildlife,” said one of the petitions, filed by Tropical Audubon, Biscayne Bay Waterkeeper and Miami-Dade resident Dan Kipnis.

Scott and other supporters say the dredging project will allow larger ships to use the port and position Miami as a key player when the expanded Panama Canal opens in 2014.