Is the Sun Going to Set on Florida?

There are only a few days left, and lawmakers have an urgent decision to make about Florida's future. While workers are going jobless and the Florida Legislature stands at the precipice of budgetary ruin, a very clear path to a prosperous future loaded with new jobs and true, long-term energy independence is bottled up in the Florida Legislature.

A Senate bill expected to be approved this week would require the state's utilities to buy an increasing amount of their electricity from renewable energy companies in Florida that produce solar, biomass and even wave-generated electricity. The Senate and governor are ready to act. But the House is an unknown, and the 2009 Legislature is scheduled to conclude Friday.

Gov. Charlie Crist and Sen. Jim King, R-Jacksonville, are pushing for 15 percent of our energy to come from renewable sources. Why? In large part because each megawatt of energy produced by solar is creating 15 to 30 jobs and each megawatt of biomass creates nine new jobs. These are real jobs based on an estimated 6,000 megawatts of renewable energy. The new market being created is likewise real. This new industry and jobs are so tangible that 28 states already have mandated such policies. Smart, forward-looking states are making this move - and doing so fast - for three reasons: jobs, energy independence and to reduce the causes of global warming.

These policies are spawning an entire new industry and marketplace for innovative small, and large, homegrown businesses. The money changing hands would stay in Florida, instead of going off to a corporation in another state.

Florida has sunlight. Florida has crops. Florida has ample tidal and solar thermal possibilities. Given all of this, Florida should already be the renewable energy capital of the world.

But there is one huge hurdle in the way: The House of Representatives is in disarray and is struggling to merely pass a budget. It's time for the House to get down to the business of the people.