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!

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.

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!

July 10, 2020

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

President, Chen Moore and Associates

Last week: Last week the mayor of Seoul, South Korea went missing and was found dead and the Supreme Court ruled that half of Oklahoma was a Native American reservation – including the City of Tulsa. Those were two pretty important pieces of news that were drowned out by the coverage of COVID-19. Do I think being safe is important? Of course. But like the relentless drum during hurricane season, we only need to report the same news every so often. The hurricane is still coming and COVID-19 is still transmitting. We get it.

Looking ahead: In the coming weeks, I think the biggest news stories will be the continued shutting down of businesses that we came to think of as household names. Last week was Brooks Brothers and Chuck’s Steakhouse. While I neither wore Brooks Brothers or ate at a Chuck’s (ok, I did once), I knew them. In the first month of the crisis, there were businesses that failed, but sadly if they failed that fast, they weren’t run well. When you hear established names starting to fall, we need to be prepared for Amazon and Walmart to take over in their place.

July 3, 2020

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

President, Chen Moore and Associates

Last week: With the budget (and the arguments over what was and wasn’t vetoed therein) being the headline grabber this past week, many of the accomplishments of the past legislative session came into being without any fanfare. I’m used to seeing discussion, victory laps and rebuttals each week as bills passed by the Legislature were packaged and processed through the Governor’s office, but thanks to COVID-19, bills about the environment and E-Verify largely went unnoticed. Getting signed into law is only the first step in a statute’s life. There needs to be continual debate and changes until it truly meets ours needs.

Looking ahead: In January, I flew 11 flight segments. With three trips planned to the D.C. area by early April, I thought that I’d finally be getting that long-coveted status on my airline. Instead, because of an “attend in person” meeting in the D.C. area next week and a company policy requiring seven days of isolation after a flight, I’ll be putting those miles on my truck. I was never a very frequent flyer, but at about 30 segments a year, I was a solid repeat customer. Airlines are critical. How will they survive this year?

June 12, 2020

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

President, Chen Moore and Associates

Last week: After reading the statement made by NASCAR this past week, I’d like to think that they banned the Confederate flag from their events out of goodwill towards all, but ironically, I think it was capitalism that is taking the flags down. As NASCAR is one of the few sports able to open back up, the sports-starved ranks of our population can only watch so much Korean baseball and German soccer. The corporate sponsors know that they need wide appeal and always distance themselves from controversy. I’m happy to see capitalism work for this important social change.

Looking ahead: The next few weeks are an important time of year to my family. Within 11 days, we have my birthday, Father’s Day and my daughter’s birthday. Since we are being safe because of COVID-19, I’m OK with delayed or canceled celebrations for me, but how do you explain this world to a 3-year-old? I feel terrible for the seniors that missed the prom, but they are old enough to understand. What are the long term emotional stresses that all younger children facing and how will they face the future? I hope the next few weeks are kind.