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The key here for me is not the nuclear angle -- it's the fact that the plant is run by FPL, who decided to abandon its maintenance program of power poles and towers as too costly in 1991, then started a limited program confined to only two geographical areas in 2000. According to testimony before the FL PSC yesterday, FPL knew in 1998 that at least one of the towers supporting high-voltage transmission lines in West Palm Beach had loose and missing brace bolts. They did nothing, and during Wilma, 30 of the towers went down.

Now FPL wants to pass on its recovery costs -- of rotted, neglected wood power poles and towers that collapsed during Wilma -- to consumers, after getting a whopping rate hike from their pals at the PSC -- more than they requested, in fact, less than a month after the storm.

My question is, what else hasn't FPL been maintaining adequately? Turkey Point? And will they be claiming they need another rate hike to fix problems there?

FPL was, not too many years ago, a well-run company. Not today.

Interesting information. FPL is a poplar utility nationally for investors -- maybe time to reassess.

Question though from the West Coast: with the certainty of hurricanes in Florida, why haven't the utilities gone to underground distribution or even underground transmission lines?