SpaceX Falcon 9 launches (Photo: NASA/Alan Auit)

The SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket soared into space from Space Launch Complex-40 on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station carrying the Dragon capsule to orbit at 3:44 a.m. on Tuesday.

The launch is the company’s second demonstration test flight for NASA’s Commercial Orbital Transportation Services, or COTS, Program.

During the flight, there will be a series of check-out procedures to test and prove Dragon’s systems, including rendezvous and berthing with the International Space Station.

It is the first time a private company has attempted to berth a spacecraft with the ISS.

An earlier launch, planned for Saturday morning, had to be scrubbed when computers automatically shut down less than one second before liftoff due to unusually high pressure in one of the engine’s combustion chambers.

If all goes well, a series of other launches are planned to deliver cargo and eventually crew to the ISS.

Gov. Rick Scott and the Florida Cabinet approved the 2012 Statewide Emergency Shelter Plan (SESP) this morning at Stanley Switlik Elementary School in Marathon, Florida.

The 2012 SESP takes into account a combination of hurricane shelter surveys, retrofitted public facilities, existing schools and the use of enhanced hurricane-resistant construction for new schools and public facilities to create an estimated 939,395 spaces throughout the state.

The 2012 Statewide Emergency Shelter Plan provides, among other things, a guide for local and regional planning of new public school, community college and university facilities that must meet Public Shelter Design Criteria.

“Florida has made significant strides in reducing its deficit of safe public hurricane shelter space over the past 12 years and the 2012 SESP is evidence of the state’s progress,” said Florida Division of Emergency Management Director Bryan W. Koon.

The 2012 Atlantic Hurricane Season begins Friday, June 1.

Scott approved the measure (HB 639), without its most controversial section, which was removed from the bill by lawmakers during the session. That provision would have exempted reclaimed water from the definition of “state waters.” The designation is significant because Florida statutes say the state is responsible for managing state waters, which are considered a basic public resource. If that section had remained, it would have essentially allowed private entities to “own” treated water.

The provision was struck from the bill during early committee hearings. The watered down bill then traveled through the chambers with little, if any, opposition.

Officials in the Tampa Bay area had requested changes to state law that would give them more flexibility in the use of reclaimed water without having to go through the consumptive use permit process. Rep. Dana Young, R-Tampa, sponsored the bill.

After talks with environmental groups, Young agreed to strike the exemption, a move that brought accolades from critics.

“Once that provision was taken out of the bill, we didn’t have major problems with it,” Audubon’s Executive Director, Eric Draper, said Tuesday.

Statewide, about 660 million gallons of reclaimed water is being used every day for a range of purposes, from phosphate mining and electricity generation to golf course watering. The amount equals about half of the state’s available resource.

What was once seen as a waste product, reclaimed water has become increasingly critical to residential and commercial development as the price of potable water increases and districts tighten regulations to ensure long-term availability.
By Michael Peltier

Space shuttle Discovery flown over U.S. Capitol, April 17, 2012 (Photo: NASA/Smithsonian Institution/Harold Dorwin)

Space shuttle Discovery, mounted atop a NASA 747 Shuttle Carrier Aircraft, was flown near the U.S. Capitol, Tuesday, in Washington after departing from Kennedy Space Center in Florida around 7:00 a.m.

Discovery, the first orbiter retired from NASA’s shuttle fleet, completed 39 missions, spent 365 days in space, orbited the Earth 5,830 times, and traveled 148,221,675 miles.

NASA will transfer Discovery to the National Air and Space Museum to begin its new mission to commemorate past achievements in space and to educate and inspire future generations of explorers.

Space shuttle Discovery departs Kennedy Space Center (Photo: NASA)

Space shuttle Discovery took off from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center on Tuesday morning atop a modified 747 Shuttle Carrier Aircraft, bound for Washington, D.C.

Discovery and the modified aircraft departed on time at 7:00 a.m. and flew low over the Kennedy vicinity before heading north to Washington, D.C. area, for the Smithsonian National Air & Space Museum.

Discovery leaves the Kennedy Space Center after more than 28 years of service beginning with its arrival on the space coast Nov. 9, 1983 to begin processing for its first launch Aug. 30, 1984.

The flight duration to Washington is expected to take about 3 1/2 hours, which includes the local fly-bys on each end of the trip.

A NASA C-9 “Pathfinder” (DC-9) and T-38 training jets will accompany the Ferry Flight to Washington, D.C.

FL&P - Turkey Point

Florida Power & Light filed a detailed proposal Monday to raise base electric rates by $690.4 million in 2013, setting the stage for months of hearings and financial scrutiny by regulators and customer groups.

The filing with the state Public Service Commission comes about two months after FPL said it would seek an increase in base rates.

Florida’s largest utility said it should receive the additional money for a number of reasons, including a new power plant in Brevard County and the need to upgrade its transmission systems and other infrastructure.

Gulf originally requested a $93.5 million hike, but that number increased to $101.6 million because of accounting-related issues stemming from improvements to a power plant.

The PSC on March 12 will determine how the increase will affect customers’ bills, with the changes expected to take effect April 11.

“We approved only the operating revenues needed for Gulf to provide its customers with reliable, safe electric service, which also reduced the potential financial impact on customer bills,” PSC Chairman Ronald Brise said in a prepared statement.

As part of its decision, the commission reduced the potential investor returns that Gulf had sought. It set a 10.25 percent return on equity — a closely watched measure of profitability — while Gulf requested an 11.7 percent return.

Also, the PSC did not allow Gulf to pass along costs related to a potential nuclear-power plant site in Escambia County and trimmed a company request to pay for new employees.

Company spokeswoman Sandy Sims said in an e-mail that Gulf was pleased the PSC had approved most of its proposals. She also said the company has not had a base-rate increase in a decade.

“This increase was very necessary because it has been 10 years since we last were able to increase our base prices,” Sims said. “Since then, we’ve seen significant increases in the price of materials we use to make and deliver electricity.”

Progress customers will see their monthly electric bills go up in 2013, though they also will receive $288 million in refunds related to a repair project at a Crystal River nuclear plant.

The agreement also will lock in the amount that customers will pay over five years for a proposed nuclear plant in Levy County. Supporters say those costs could have gone up far more if the settlement had not been reached.

“This may not be the best deal for all, but each party gets a little something,” Commissioner Eduardo Balbis said before the PSC voted unanimously to approve the agreement.

Progress and representatives of consumers, business groups and federal-government agencies announced the settlement last month after lengthy negotiations. The announcement came as the St. Petersburg-based utility and the other groups prepared for a year of major — and controversial — regulatory issues.

Bottom line, residential customers who use 1,000 kilowatt hours of electricity a month would see their bills go from the current $123.19 to an estimated $128.12 next year, according to information presented by the PSC staff.

The utility industry uses 1,000 kilowatt hours as a common measurement, though many residential customers use more electricity than that each month and business customers are billed differently.

Gov. Rick Scott on Thursday signed one of Space Florida’s top legislative priorities into law, one of the first bills to emerge from the 2012 legislative session in Tallahassee, floridatoday.com reports.

The bill amends Florida Department of Transportation’s definition of launch support facilities to match the broader federal definition, which includes not only launch pads and control centers, but assembly and processing facilities.

The tweak to the bill would allow federal and state funds for infrastructure upgrades to go to spaceports in Jacksonville and the Space Coast.

The proposal comes a month after the U.S. Department of the Interior established the Everglades Headwaters National Wildlife Refuge and Conservation Area North of Lake Okeechobee and halted the trade of four exotic snake species that are plaguing the Everglades.

“The funding proposed today would make sure that job-creating projects under construction do not come to a halt,” said Julie Hill-Gabriel, Audubon Florida’s Director of Everglades Policy.

Congress must still approve the proposal.

The Florida House has set aside more than $40 million in new Everglades related funding.

The Senate so far has largely balked on funding, but environmental group representatives have said they expect the Senate to provide some funding when the budget reaches the conference committee.