Famous shot of Ben Hogan hitting the 1 Iron shot on the eighteenth hole of the final round at Merion to win the 1950 US Open Championship.

Tuesday brought terrible news from my oldest Bashinsky first cousin that my youngest first cousin on my mother’s side had killed himself. I wrote back that Bubba had told me he was under strain and things didn’t seem to be working out in Birmingham, but I never considered this outcome. Probably, I didn’t want to consider it.
 
Bubba and I started an email dialogue right after my brother Major killed himself a little over a year ago. Bubba often said he enjoyed my daily posts, wanted to come down to Key West for a visit, and for me to keep giving ‘em hell. That was before I moved back to Walden on Little Torch to give ‘em hell up here in the District 2 County Commission race. After I entered that race, I started moaning about not having enough club and needing a 1 iron. Bubba said he could take care of that but before he fixed the problem my opponent George “Bubba” Neugent gave me his 1 iron. As soon as I gripped it, I knew it was a dinky little old ladies’ 1-iron.
  
Boy, was I glad to see the real thing arrive at Harpoon Harry’s in Key West, where Bubba sent it because he knew I liked eating breakfast there surrounded by my harem. A beautiful, humongous Callaway, Bubba said it was from his private stock. Of course, the final outcome of the District 2 race proved once again that Lee Trevino was dead on the money when he once was told at a golf tournament to get off the course because of an approaching thunderstorm and he pulled the 1 iron out of his bag and raised it overhead and hollered, “Not even God can hit a 1 iron!” 
 
When Bubba shared with me that things weren’t going so good for him and asked if I knew of anything he could do down here?, I said, given his golf background, I thought he might be able to find something either at Ocean Reef Club or Key West Golf Club, and perhaps I could introduce him to some people who might be able to help him relocate. I said I didn’t think he would like the golf club in Marathon. Too geriatric, that town. Heard nothing back from Bubba on moving to the Keys but he kept writing, saying he was reading my posts every morning and for me to keep giving ‘em hell. It was refreshing to have a blood relative egging me on for a change.
 
Bubba was born in and spent his early years in Miami. His family lived on the golf course in Coral Gables and his father, having gotten hooked on golf because it was my father’s game, had Bubba playing golf as soon as he could hold a golf club. Bubba trained under Bob Toski and Johnny Pott. A tour pro, Toski was the resident pro at Ocean Reef Club. Pott also was on the tour. It was “Big Jim” Major’s dream that Bubba would become a touring pro and make it big.
 
Big Jim’s employer owned an oceanside home on Lower Matecumbe Key, which my father purchased in 1963. Bubba loved the Keys as much as I did. A few years later, Big Jim went to work for my father’s company and moved his family to Birmingham. At age sixteen, Bubba won the Alabama State Men’s Amateur Golf Championship. Everyone figured he would turn pro, make a bundle. He went pro but did not reach stardom. I felt all along Bubba had too much pressure on him to be the next Arnold Palmer or Ben Hogan. When that didn’t happen, he regained his amateur status. From all I saw, he seemed to be drifting, unable to gain traction. 
  
Sometimes Bubba and I played in the same dogfight before he got so good that he played with the big boys and we wannabes continued to aspire. After some early shows of promise, my swing had developed a glitch I never could work out, and eventually I gave up the game that is an X-ray of the soul, feeling like a major-league failure. Later failures made me feel like the world-champion all-time failure. Ironically, today I frequenlty have golf dreams. I had one early this morning, which pointed me toward this post today. In life, I am to play every shot as it lies, like touring pros do.
 
I told my brother’s first wife yesterday that Bubba probably felt like a total failure after he didn’t make it on the pro tour. She agreed. She knew all too well the problems caused by a father living through his son’s sports achievements. She said yesterday that she felt Major’s suicide, which left so many unanswered questions, must have really affected Bubba, because he left a suicide note explaining he had been depressed and thinking of killing himself for some time. 
  
Some years behind me, Bubba’s wife clerked for the same federal judge for whom I clerked straight out of law school. Everyone who knew this remarkable man understood he was cut from a different cloth. If it helps any, Cuz, we knew at Judge Allgood’s graveside service that he had killed himself. I know for a fact a great celebration occurred in heaven when he crossed over. I also know for a fact that many times I wished I had the courage to kill myself. Perhaps more than your and my family will ever know, I figure I know what you were up against.
  
I’m sorry, Cuz, if I let you down, if I didn’t pay close enough attention. I knew you were in trouble but I just didn’t know what to do about it. Maybe I should have invited you down to hang out here at Walden. Darn. Just darn. I hope you are at rest now. You deserve it. I’m going to seriously miss you, Bubba. And have no fear: I’m going to keep giving ‘em hell. I don’t know where or how, but I know it’s gonna happen. It’s in my genes. God only knows where those genes came from, because I sure as hell can’t see any traces in my father or mother’s bloodlines.
 
I found myself thinking, Cuz, as I began writing this farewell two days ago, that I should thank my lucky stars I became the family black sheep instead of trying to hang in there and become what my father and his father wanted me to become. I suppose I ended up at the best place in the world to be a black sheep because there are plenty of them down here in the Keys. This one now finds himself wondering if God has in mind proving Lee Trevino was mistaken. Any assistance you can lend on the links, Cuz, is appreciated.
 
Cousin Bash
 

CHARLES MARK “BUBBA” MAJOR

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MAJOR, CHARLES “BUBBA” MARK Charles “Bubba” Mark Major, age 59, died on March 28, 2011. He was born to James Garnett and Margot Bleiweiss Major in Coral Gables, Florida on September 23, 1951. The family moved to Birmingham where he attended Mountain Brook High School graduating in 1970. A talented golfer, he became one of the youngest ever winners of the Alabama Golf Association State Amateur Championship in 1969. He graduated from Chippola Junior College where he was a member of the golf team, and attended the University of Alabama on a golf scholarship. He became a professional golfer playing on mini-tours in Arizona, Australia, and New Zealand. After regaining his amateur status, he qualified for three United States Amateur championships in 1972, 1984, and 1990. Mr. Major also won the Willow Point Men’s Invitational Championship in 1971 and the Vestavia Invitational in 1972. Eventually, he became the managing partner of Boswell Highland Park Golf Course in Birmingham. He later worked for Mailon Kent Insurance and Freeport Steel. Mr. Major was a member of the Country Club of Birmingham, which was his home away from home. There he won the junior championship in 1969, the men’s championship in 1973, and the Men’s Invitational Senior Championship in 2002. This last tournament was most meaningful as the cup was named for his mentor, golf professional Jon Gustin. He was a member of several dogfights including The Due Rights, The Nickel Nassau, The Sting, The Gravy Train, and The Rollers. In addition to golf, he loved mentoring young golfers and coaching his children in basketball, football, softball and baseball. He was a member of Mountain Brook Baptist Church since 1970 and was a faithful attendee of the 8:30 service. He is preceded in death by his parents, James and Margot Major. He is survived by his wife, Jane Hagan Major, his two children Charles Hagan Major and Elizabeth Margot Major, his brother James Garnett Major, III, and numerous friends and family who loved him and that he loved. Funeral services will be held at Mountain Brook Baptist Church at 3:00 on Thursday, March 31st. The family will receive friends after the service in Hudson Hall. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Big Oak Ranch, Mountain Brook Baptist Church, or a charity of your choice. Services are under the direction of Ridout’s Valley Chapel (879-3401) in Homewood.

bait and switch?

Two comments from yesterday’s Coconut Telegraph page of bigpinekey.com. 

Don’t leave out California, which is where Brad Vickrey and Beth Ramsay-Vickrey Ramsay came from to buy their home on No Name Key in 2006 and then immediately started a world war against anyone and everyone who didn’t agree with their scheme to get No Name on the grid in every way imaginable. Back in Reconstruction, after the South had lost what it viewed as the War of Northern Aggression, Yankees who came south looking to profit from the crooked Reconstruction politics were called carpetbaggers, and Southerners who joined forces with carpetbaggers were called scallywags. I suppose Brad Vickrey is a carpetbagger, but since I understand Beth grew up in the Keys, then moved to California before coming back to profit off the Keys, that makes her a carpetbagger and a scallywag. Alchemy works both ways. Lead can turn into gold, or it can turn into shit.
 
So far, this reply to yesterday’s sewering

Click image to enlarge:

INCINOLET uses electric heat to reduce human waste (urine, solids, paper) to a small amount of clean ash, which is dumped periodically into the garbage. INCINOLET remains clean because waste never touches the bowl surface. A bowl liner, dropped into the bowl prior to use, captures the waste, then both liner and its content drop into the incinerator chamber when the foot pedal is pushed. You can use INCINOLET at any time-even while it is in cycle. A Typical Cycle: Incineration cycle is started with the push button.  Both heater and blower come on when button is pushed. Heater alternates off and on for a preset period of time, blower continues on until unit has cooled. Several people may use the toilet in rapid succession. Push the start button after each use to reset the timer.

INCINOLET vs. Composting Toilets

INCINOLET Composting Toilets Cleanliness Paper Bowl Liner contains waste – keeps bowl sparkling clean. Bowl is not protected – waste can stain and smear bowl surfaces.  Waste is visible in some models Odor Waste is incinerated after each use – keeps bathroom free of odor and flies. Catalyst within the toilet keeps exhaust odor-free. Waste accumulates and decomposes over a 3-6 month period of time – user can see accumulated waste and some insects may be attracted. Water Uses no water. Some models use water and must be plumbed. Additives Nothing to add. Peat moss must be added after every 3-4 uses. Other “food” for microbes must be added from time to time. Residue Ash produced is germ-free – no restrictions on its disposal. Compost produced must be put out onto the ground, but cannot be used as fertilizer for food producing plants. Some models drain excess urine out into a pit or an old septic system. Climate Can be used in any climate and can be left in an unheated environment for long periods of time. Microbes must be kept warm and must be “fed” from time to time or they die, stopping the composting process and leaving raw sewage in the toilet or composting vault. Waste must be “stirred” periodically. Electrical Requirements Uses 120 volts (some 240 volt models), at 15 amps. Uses about 1½ kilowatt hour of electricity per cycle. Electric drawn only when toilet is in use. Electric models use 120 volts. Electricity may be needed all the time, even during off seasons, to operate evaporation fan and heater.

Click here to download a condensed PDF manual.

Email: sales@incinolet.com  •  Phone: (214) 358-4238 Toll-Free: 1-800-527-5551  •  Fax: (214) 350-7919 Research Products/Blankenship, USA  •  2639 Andjon, Dallas, Texas 75220

Most of today’s post is a serious look at compost toilets and the beginning of a discussion of how they might be used to sewer the rest of the Keys perhaps for a lot less money with a lot less or even no infrastructure. Not sure how Florida Keys Aqueduct Authority will feel about that, since it has so much invested in traditional sewerage collection and treatment. However, given the state mandate the Keys are under to complete sewering by 2015, given the staggering costs the county government and Keys property owners face, given the apparent lack of support funding coming from the state and national capitals (I spelled capitol that way on purpose), perhaps this is a growing green ideal and an idea whose time has come. 

Sun-Mar self-contained compost toilet

A reply from the Editor of Solares Hill to yesterday’s last stand – No Name Key post.

Brilliant post this morning, Sloan
-Mark
 
I wrote back saying too bad he didn’t get to see the editing job the angels did in my sleep on the draft I had slaved over the day before.
 
At the very end of the nap dream described at the beginning of yesterday’s post, a female voice I did not recognize said, “I’ll see you Tuesday.” On waking, my thoughts went through a number of permutations on who she was. Some of those thoughts best not spelled out in too much detail, I don’t suppose. But as as the day progressed, I understood her words to mean for me to be on the lookout for something coming my way having to do with a woman on Tuesday, about which I probably would write in a post .
 
Then came this yesterday from Christine Russell of the Key West branch of The Resistance, which dovetailed with part of yesterday’s post. Today is Tuesday.
 
Hi Sloan,
 
I saw you mention composting toilets in your blog today. I have been researching composting toilets for a couple of years now for our oceanfront land in Central America that is totally off the grid and in a remote area that I hope will remain so. I with a friend in the area plan to start the Costa Abajo Conservancy where we will educate other land owners in the area as to how they can build in an environmentally, sustainable, earth-friendly way before the oceanfront is strung with electric lines, trees are cut down, and fertilizers and other poisons are used on the land which will kill off the marine life and destroy a beautiful ocean. So composting toilets are on our plans – they are beautifully designed and I am told they have been approved in Florida, and are now being installed in a large government project in the Bahama’s. They are not cheap, and they do need to be maintained, but if you have no sewer line and not pot to —- in, this looks like a great alternative to me! Of course the toilet I like is one of the more expensive ones, but it is a cool design and not some funky industrial looking thing which are available for less money ($1600).
 
At $3600 it seems quite expensive, but when you consider that this is for the entire system and not just a toilet, and that you are eliminating the cost of a on site treatment system or in our case waiting on a sewer line that may not come in our lifetime – I like this toilet! Actually it has the look of the Kohler K-3492 that costs $3800 for just for a toilet – nothing else, so maybe the Envirolet VF it is a bargain! Oh, and one more thing – this toilet uses less than 0.2 liters of water per flush! Maybe we could use these in Monroe County with our severe water shortage and the excessive cost the mandated sewering project that I think I heard will cost over $1 billion dollars! Probably more than you wanted to know about toilets but for more information go to www.envirolet.com 
 
Christine
 
Bless the stars and stripes, Miss Betsy Ross, this is wonderful stupendous! Hell, the County it talking more money than this for people to hook up to the Cudjoe Key sewerage system if it ever gets completed, and probably even more money for up around Big Pine. If all the homes on No Name went to compost toilets, they would not need to be on Aqueduct Authority water or sewerage. Yeah, the Beth Ramsay-Vickery types would mucho holler about the County trying to get them killed by drinking awful, deadly cistern water people today on No Name Key and other areas, such as Big Torch Key, are drinking and enjoying good health. As far as I know, none of the pro-gridders on No Name Key have yet asked the County Health Department to come out and draw samples from their cisterns to test. Note, I said come out and draw samples, because I just could not bring myself to believe anything the pro-gridders took in a bottle to the Health Department had come out of their cisterns, after seeing Mick Barnes tell the Aqueduct Authority board a plastic bottle of nasty looking water he held in his hand came from Beth Ramsay-Vickery’s cistern. Beth, sitting in the audience, neither confirmed nor denied Mick’s allegation. I piped that Nick had no clue where that water in the bottle came from, and Mick didn’t deny it. Believe it or not, one of the board members, after voting to put water on No Name Key, said she did it because of that bottle of dirty water from Beth Ramsay-Vickery’s cistern. That board member is one of Board member Bob Dean’s clones. Good old honest Bob Dean, whose home is at Key Haven, he claims a homestead on it, but he claims his residence is in his funeral home in Key West, which qualifies him to hold the Key West seat on the Aqueduct Authority board. Bubba wubba flubba dubba. I bet the Aqueduct authority is about as fond of compost toilets as Keys Energy is of solar farms that don’t tie into the grid but just might do quite well for the people who use them. Will your home in Panama rely on cistern water for drinking, bathing, washing, cooking, irrigation, etc? And I suppose you will use solar to make electricity? I can’t see you going out and gathering wood to stoke your wood burning cook stove, but I could see you using oil lanterns for lighting. Sloan
 
Hi, Sloan
 
Still researching just how we will best live off the grid in Panama, but we have a couple of years before we start that project. I can tell you the land had a casita on it with a single solar panel when we bought the land. These simple people far from civilization had a solar panel and that is how they lived! They did have a waterline run to the property but I was told that would not be available to us as it had been run by 5 local Panamanian families. When I did inquire about paying my part for the line I was asked “do you intend to build a swimming pool”?!
 
Such is their opinion of we gringos. I probably will look into a cistern. My best friend back in Ohio who has 4 or 5 quarter horses depends on her chlorinated cistern for water, and it is great water. I guess if one ignored their cistern, like anything else, it would be a problem. Maybe this is the case with the person you referenced in your email. In Panama when we selected our land, fresh water was one big concern – luckily we found a parcel of land that is bordered by a large freshwater rive – I have swam in the lagoon and even drank the water on a hot day! It may not only provide water for us, but may even provide energy as water flows down from the mountains and runs into the ocean.
 
Now you may not think of Besty as the outdoors camping sort, but you might be surprised. She really needs little – enough energy for refrigeration (cold drinks and food preservation), a clean drinking water supply (I have that one figured out with a Berkey water filter). A sun-oven can do the cooking and baking. She can live by candlelight and with an ocean breeze cooling the house, and truthfully a little more energy would be nice for a few lights and ceiling fans, and maybe a pool one day, if one can be done in a water-friendly way. You know water is the next oil! This is why a fresh water source was imperative in selecting land to buy. An upcoming trip will include an outing to the coast to talk with the ‘water committee’ about allowing us use of the existing water line. I don’t imagine this being anything like an Aqueduct meeting! For now I am trying to befriend the locals and show them I am not your typical developer gringo – out to rape and pillage the land. Many local villagers now know of and respect the gringo girl who rode a horse nearly 7 hours to get to the land before we bought – don’t think they were used to seeing an American on a horse this is most of their means of transportation. The last thing I would need is an internet connection, but with satellite I don’t think that will be a problem – they all have cell phones out there so their must be reception, but I could not live with out my computer and line to the outside world. We will build and spend time on the ocean, but I will never leave the Keys or be completely out of touch – there is much you can do while away with email and the internet! many trips to Panama with my computer, friends have email ‘I thought you were in Panama’ after seeing Letters to the Editor of articles in the paper. ‘I am’ was my reply.
 
The mayor of the closest town now knows me as I have talked with him about recycling and things we need to work on in the short term to give his village a better life style. I just need more time to do it all – or clone myself!
 
Christine
 
To my knowledge, the NNK person I referenced never once has said her cistern water is, in fact, contaminated. I was told by a NNK resident that just after this water-paranoic and her husband closed their NNK home in 2006, she told a neighbor she could not wait until water was run out to NNK so she could have a swimming pool! Her husband is a mover-shaker real estate type back in California. Someone I know pretty well up this way told me he saw the mover and shaker had the limestone mining quarry on NNK near their home showing as having development potential. I bet the conch farm already this couple, and others, want Aqueduct water and sewerage and Keys Energy electricity out to NNK because they have some kind of development scheme needs those “civilized” amenities. Why else would these two have bought a home on NNK, when there were so many places in the Keys they could have bought and been on the grid? Perhaps I should say again again, she is the daughter of Marathon City Councilman Dick Ramsay and the sister of Colonel Rick Ramsay, No. 2 in the Sheriff department. Both Ramsay men attended public meetings on NNK, which I attended. Colonel Ramsay always in his sheriff uniform. I wondered what official business he had for which the taxpayers were paying for him to be there. Bubba wubba flubba dubba.
 
And this from the fellow who told me he built the last home on NNK and it had a compost toilet that worked just fine as long as he lived there and took care of it:
 
The gridders will try to bamboozle on the issue of grey water and hilariously, coming from them, the environment and the water in the Keys. The county did,also,at first. It is not an issue! Those who have an existing septic tank or such can simply run the water into there. Easton, my son, told me today that the filtration system for the water is in place. The county pushed that. I don’t know the specifics on what is there. But, if it’s even remotely close to what I had planned, it’s a very simple process of filtering greywater through sand and gravel and into your yard or whatever. It’s all quite natural! And safe! And pure! The compost manure can be pulled out and used for fertilizer for plants. Not food plants!
 
This film may intrigue you! My original plan for the house on No Name Key. It was too much for Monroe County and State of Florida to grasp at the time. Much of it is now accepted. Such as the compost toilet, adobe houses, tires and cans, too, I think. Michael, and crew, and me, and my family, were all jacked-up, but it didn’t happen. I ended up just building the usual abode in most respects. “As per code.” Not what I had envisioned or aspired to! You kinda’ remind me of Michael in many respects. Michael Reynolds “Garbage Warrior”

My reply, with his back in situs.
 
This film is interesting, so far – 18 minutes into it. Saw some familiar road way and a what looks like the bridge over the Taos river.Yep! Will watch more. Looks like the houses he is building cost heapum wampum, hope to see something smaller a Keys fishing guide can afford.Surprisingly, not totally $$ extreme. We’ll talk after you’ve watched the entire documentary.Just got back from Bahia Honda. They did install and use compost toilets and they worked well. But eventually they changed them out for regular toilets, which were cheaper to maintain. They said the chemical for the compost toilets was expensive and the human labor more for compost toilet. Don’t know enough about that to say anything and would like your thoughts.I see. They do require TLC as needed. I can see how that could present a problem at Bahia Honda. In terms how much TLC the workforce felt like rendering and what all got dropped into the composting unit by the public. Both definitely could present problems.I don’t really recall the all the workings of composters such as theirs. Especially w/ the chemicals. Tortugas’ was purely natural w/ worms doing their thing. No chemicals were involved. I would think if any chemicals are used they would be biodegradable.I, also, feel that the employees would need an indoctrination and an appreciation of the composter and its importance in quality of life and respect for the environment in The Keys. That’s tough to find! In a dwelling such as yours, you wouldn’t really be dealing w/ chemicals. Possibly around the seat as you see fit. That’s not a problem. Composters require very little attention except for the TLC.
 
Also, you said something about needing some elevation above sea level for compost toilet and I could use a few words about that.OK. I don’t know if there are any code specs on that. The Tortuga house has a very high elevation in terms of Keys elevation. Also, the canal is quite deep at 16′-20′. I had no real concerns in placing it directly on the slab underneath the house.The county had no specs and simply didn’t want it. I knew I was right on the matter and the State of Florida agreed and overruled the Cty. I already had it in and operational anyway.We had very little surge for several hours during Georges. I never felt the composter was threatened and it was used throughout the storm. I picture Little Torch possibly having a situation w/ a surge. The water may go up over the composter’s containment. However, the holders are very secure so, I wouldn’t picture much of any waste escaping.I wouldn’t rule out saltwater seeping in which probably would harm the workers inside. The composter is heavy volume wise and most likely wouldn’t budge. I would secure it nonetheless w/ hurricane straps in some creative fashion.I would venture to say you would simply remove the existing compost to a good spot, like a septic, your yard, into an accepted location and rebuild the colony should saltwater get in. I did that once a year just to start fresh,anyway, and keep things fresh and healthy.Spread the goodies as fertilizer, but not on or near food plants. Put new wood chips and a little nice bag of compost or soil inside w/ some earthworms. I believe the manufacturer has a compost start they send you.Brewer’s yeast works. No cedar, redwood or such chips. The residence certainly must have enough elevation for the composter/chute to fit under. Say 6′ minimum. My chute dropped down from the first elevated floor. 18′ or so. There is a composter,shhh, on ________ w/ similar elevations to LT.
 
Looks like tomorrow’s post is mostly on compost toilets, if you can reply this evening, I could use it in tomorrow’s post.
 
Thanks. My pleezure!
 
I wonder how much it cost to replace the old regular toilets at Bahia Honda with compost toilets, and how much it cost to replace the compost toilets with regular toilets. I wonder if that was factored into the cost comparison? I understand Steve Grasley, who proposed a solar farm on NNK as an alternative to running Keys Energy lines out there, has a compost toilet in his Marathon home.
 
Sloan Bashinsky
 
keysmyhome@hotmail.com
 
I pulled this off the Internet. No infrastructure. Cheap, cheap.
 
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practicing law without a license

Here’s something I heard from a county commissioner a few months back, which someone else (not anyone living on No Name Key) told me yesterday he had heard from the same county commissioner.
 
When this commissioner asked about a rumor she’d heard, County Attorney Suzanne Hutton admitted she’d had dinner with a client on No Name Key. When this commissioner asked who the client was?, Hutton declined to reveal the client’s identity.
 
This was around the December County Commission meeting where Hutton proposed to the commissioners that they give county legal staff permission to file a declaratory judgment (dec) action in federal court, to put all the No Name Key issues in federal judge’s lap to flesh out and decide. Federal court was recommended because the suit would have to name US Fish & Wildlife/The Department of the Interior and FEMA as defendants, as well as No Name Key property owners, Florida Keys Aqueduct Authority and Keys Energy Services. Later in the meeting, legal staff said maybe the case would be filed in state court to symplify and get the feds out of it.
 
The dec action was but one of several related No Name Key items on that day’s commission agenda, and Hutton had put it first in line for discussion. When Commissioner Sylvia Murphy asked Hutton why she had done that?, Hutton said, if the dec action was approved, it would negate the other items having to be dealt with. I was at that meeting, I heard this, as did others in the audience.
 
The other No Name Key items pertained to amending the county code/comprehensive plan to allow utilities to be run out to No Name Key, letting utilities be run across county conversation land and easements on No Name Key, and other irrelevant stuff, if Hutton was looking out for the interests of the No Name Key pro-gridders and not for the interests of the County. The Commissioners agreed to discuss and decide the other No Name Key items first, which produced unfavorable 5-0 outcomes for the pro-gridders on those irrelevant items. Tongue in cheek here.
 
Then, the commissioners discussed filing the dec action. In her pitch, Hutton told the commissioners she and Chief Assistant County Attorney Bob Shillinger did not necessarily agree the County should file the dec action. After a lot of confusion on Hutton’s part, she finally conceded an order by Judge Payne holding Keys Energy Board had no legal imperative to furnish electricity to No Name Key and No Name Key homeowners had no rights to power was still in effect. But for the ongoing efforts of Commissioner Wigington and citizens Kay Thacker and Alicia Putney, Hutton might not have backed down. Strangely, much the same thing had happened at a county commission meeting the preceding January, and Hutton had been forced to back down then, too.
 
You can form your own opinion, but it looks to me like Hutton tried a little to hard to make a case for the pro-grid folks on No Name Key, and she tried a little to hard to persuade the County Commission there was a conflict of law, for which a declaratory judgment action would lie. I really do think the entire County Commission needs to get Hutton to tell them who she went to visit on No Name Key. Client or not, Hutton is the County Attorney. As such, I am pretty sure she is not supposed to have private clients. I am not entirely convinced she went to visit a client. She may have made that up to try to invoke the lawyer-client confidentially privilege. It just doesn’t look good at all to me.
 
Consider . . .
 
Once upon a time, there was a county attorney named Jim Hendrick who also had a private practice. Hendrick is said to have had some conflicts of interest between representing the County and representing some of his clients who had or wanted to have dealings with the county or get permission from the County to do things, such as developed real estate. Hendrick also is said to have used his position as County Attorney to stall development applications until the applicants gave up and sold their property or options on their property at distressed prices to private Hendrick clients who wanted to do the development. Hendrick is said to have arranged fees from applicants which ended up in lobbyists’ and at least one county commissioner’s (Jack London) pockets. One such bribe, after the statute of limitations had run, led to a federal prosecution of London and a lobbyist and Hendrick. The three were amigos, they socialized. The lobbyist went by “The Prince of Darkness.” London and Hendrick viewed that handle with affection. London died before going to trial. The Prince of Darkness turned state’s evidence, testified against Hendrick, and got a slap on the wrist. Hendrick was convicted by a local jury in the Key West federal courthouse of something like conspiracy and obstruction of justice/witness tampering. He was put on serious probation and was disbarred.
 
This person who had the same conversation with the county commissioner I had said he was told by a member of the No Name Key solar community (not Alicia Putney) some time back that pro-grid No Name Key homeowner Brad Vickrey had a real estate website on which was a photo of the bayside limestone quarry on No Name Key being shown with other properties as having development potential. This person said he went online and saw what he had been told was on Vickrey’s website. When he checked back with the website a week or so later, it wasn’t there any more. He said he did not make a copy of it. I know him pretty well. He doesn’t make stuff up.
 
He said the bayside limestone quarry has been for sale for a while and he never doubted the most recent push to put No Name Key on the grid was development-driven. He said it looked to him that Keys Energy director Peter Batty brought the resolution for Keys Energy to file its own dec action, because that was the only way Batty saw to keep the No Name Key issue alive at Keys Energy. When I said I had never known Batty to do anything that didn’t have money in it for Batty, this person said that also was his view of Batty. I have heard other people say the same of Batty, and that Batty never saw a development he didn’t like.
 
Suzanne Hutton’s proposal that the County file a dec action over No Name Key was put on the County Commission agenda. It was duly advertised. All who attended that commission meeting had a chance to look over the meeting agenda, think about every item on it. That’s how Suzanne Hutton’s scheme to bypass the important No Name Key items got sniffed out by Commissioners Sylvia Murphy and Kim Wigington and citizens Kay Thacker and Alicia Putney.
 
Batty’s resolution for Keys Energy to file a dec action came from out of the blue. There was no prior notice. It was not advertised. Nobody who attended that Keys Energy board meeting, who opposed putting No Name Key on the grid, had a chance to think about Batty’s resolution for more than a few minutes. It was meant to be that way. Batty goes before the Key West City Commission and the County Commission, and before other local agencies. He knows how things are supposed to work. He should have put his resolution on Keys Energy board’s agenda beforehand. He should have made sure the media knew about his resolution, so they could report it beforehand. He knew the right way to do it. As did the other Keys Energy board members, all of whom are politically savvy.
 
Now consider this in yesterday from Lee Rohe who practices plenty of law in the Keys.
 
Quoting from my more fishy smell – No Name Key post yesterday: 
 
“He said without declaratory relief Keys Energy would be sued by the people who want electricity brought out to No Name Key. And he said he didn’t want to speculate, but he was pretty sure he knew in his heart how the court case would turn out. I hoped he was thinking of how previous lawsuits on No Name Key had gone and not of a judge being paid off.”

No Name Key fallout on yesterday’s Coconut Telegraph page of bigpinekey.com, with my fallout between theirs:
 
The raging discussion over the NNK utility issue was well expressed by both sides. It is a thorny issue, but in the end NNK will get what the majority of property owners want–finally. That’s as it should be.
  
Yep, that’s as it should be. About 95 percent of the Keys taxpayers and electric ratepayers who showed up at Keys Energy’s board meeting Wednesday night were against putting No Name Key on Keys Energy’s grid. Probably 2/3rds of those did not live on No Name Key. Let the majority rule.
 
Keys Energy Services is under no legal obligation to provide commercial power to No Name Key, the utility’s attorney said Wednesday night, before the board postponed voting on the matter—again. This is going to go on for another ten years.
 
Keys Energy’s lawyer has said all along Keys Energy has no legal obligation to provide commercial power to No Name Key, and Keys Energy has, until its meeting Wednesday with the public watching on with perked ears, said it is required by state law to furnish electricity to any homeowner who asks for it, if that homeowner is willing to pay for running lines out there, hook ups, etc.
 
Local courts have consistently sided against No Name Key homeowners who claimed they had rights to be connected to the grid. The County Code prohibits running utilities out to No Name Key. The current County Commission declined to change the County Code last December.
 
As for how long this might continue to drag out . . .
 
At Wednesday’s Keys Energy board meeting, board member Peter Batty, a Realtor, unexpectedly proposed KEYS file its own declaratory judgment action, if the County didn’t file its declaratory action in 30 days. Peter said he didn’t believe the County would every file for declaratory relief. He said without declaratory relief Keys Energy would be sued by the people who want electricity brought out to No Name Key. And he said he didn’t want to speculate, but he was pretty sure he knew in his heart how the court case would turn out. I hoped he was thinking of how previous lawsuits on No Name Key had gone and not of a judge being paid off.
 
I was remiss during my citizen comments for not saying that’s about as nonsense an argument as anyone could make. Peter doesn’t know Keys Energy will be sued and it should wait and see if that happens. If it happens, defend the case. If it doesn’t happen, there was nothing to worry about. I also should have said if Keys Energy initiates suit, it will be for people who are not even Keys Energy ratepayers and will be paid for by Keys Energy ratepayers. So if suit is filed, the people who want electricity on No Name Key should pay for it. 
 
A number of citizens objected to Keys filing suit. Some of them afterward felt it was a victory nonetheless. I did not feel that way. I felt something smelled fishy. I said it was rigged. I still feel something smells fishy. The pro-electrification people cheered when the County Commission authorized the declaratory action last December. They got up and walked out of the Keys Energy meeting after Batty introduced his unadvertised resolution for Keys Energy to bring its own declaratory action, if the County did not file suit within thirty days. I can’t help but wonder if the pro-electric people were delighted with Batty’s resolution. I can’t help but wonder if they knew beforehand what was going to happen, and when they left, they tried to seem unhappy about it. If I were put to make a wager, I’d bet that is exactly what happened. My apology for taking so long to see it this way.
 
It’s nice to see all of the pro-electric posters are back with their usual lies. If you want the true picture of what’s going on about the electric and water issue on No Name Key read Sloan Bashinsky’s postings for the last week or so. This is the only place to get to the truth on what’s going on there.

Thanks. Amen, the people who want No Name Key on the grid seem incapable of telling the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth so help them God. Or much of any of the truth, for that matter. My posts are a place to get the perspective of someone who doesn’t live on No Name Key and spends a great deal of time going to public meetings and watching and listening to people talk and a great deal of time thinking about what he saw and heard (and didn’t see and hear) and listening to what the angels have to say about it before he opens his big fat mouth, which is a hell of a lot more than I can say for many people who chime in on No Name Key. I also publish both sides’ comments, in the interest of full coverage and transparency, and when I screw something up, I publish a correction, which is a helluva lot more than I can say for Keys Energy’s high-paid Executive Director Lynne Tejeda, among other people who open their big fat mouths and.
 
From County Commissioner Kim Wiggington correcting my saying in yesterday’s the devil himself – No Name Key post that the County Commission had voted 5-0 in December to bring the declaratory judgment action. Oops!
 
To: sloanbashinsky@hotmail.com
Subject: Declaratory Action vote
Date: Thu, 24 Mar 2011 10:35:18 -0400
From: kimwigington@aol.com
  
Sloan,
I thought you may want to know that the BOCC vote was 3-2 in favor of the declaratory acton. The December meeting minutes concerning No Name Key are below.
 
OMG! You are right, my sincere apology to you and Sylvia. Will correct in a post. Ageheimers is sneaky.
 
I tried at that county commission meeting to talk the commissioners out of filing a declaratory judgment action. One reason I gave the commissioners was the lawsuit would be funded by every taxpayer in Monroe County for the benefit of at most 30 homeowners on No Name Key, who wanted on the grid. I urged the commissioners to wait, put the onus on the pro-grid folks to pony up the big bucks for their own lawyer to file suit. Then, the County could defend by asking for declaratory relief and not have to sue all the property owners on No Name Key, Keys Electric, the Aqueduct Authority, and US Fish & Wildlife and perhaps FEMA. If the pro-gridders didn’t pony up the big bucks for their lawyer, then it was just a big fuss over nothing.
 
There are 43 homeowners on No Name Key and 90 owners of other private land. Not all of them live in Monroe County. Some of them might be tough to find and serve. That could lead to serving through newspaper notices, which could take another while. US Fish & Wildlife has oversight over much of No Name Key, and FEMA is joined at the hip with US Fish & Wildlife in a federal lawsuit that is giving the County fits. If Fish & Wildlife and FEMA are sued in state court, they will remove the case to federal court, which they are entitled to do because they are federal agencies. Then a federal judge, not a state court judge, will be in charge of putting No Name Key on or keeping it off the grid. I told the county commissioners at the December meeting that I wasn’t so sure the County would like being before a federal judge, given all the games Fish & Wildlife and FEMA have enjoyed playing with Monroe County.
 
As was stated above, when the commissioners voted 3-2 to file the declaratory judgment action, the pro-grid homeowners in the audience cheered. The idea to file the declaratory action had come from County Attorney Suzanne Hutton. She pitched it to the county commissioners and said she and Chief Assistant County Attorney Bob Shillinger were not necessarily in agreement. Commissioner George Neugent did considerable hang-wringing over the county being sued again, and again, and again. I kept hoping he would not let that push him to vote for the County filing the lawsuit. I hoped in vain. I kept hoping the same thing for Commissioners Heather Carruthers and David Rice, in vain. Even a blind, deaf and dumb person can see from the long delay in filing the declaratory judgment action that there is no political will for it in the county government. At the level of soul, they know it is the wrong thing to do.
 
If Keys Energy brings the declaratory action, it faces the same choice of defendants the County faces. If Keys Energy and the County wait, any suit brought by the pro-grid property owners will be against Keys Energy and the County, and perhaps the Aqueduct Authority. No private lawyer in right mind would drag US Fish & Wildlife and FEMA into that lawsuit.
 
So many reasons the County and Keys Energy should wait. No reasons for either agency to initiate litigation, unless it’s rigged.

You first might wish to read Tim O’Hara’s report in this morning’s Citizen – keysnews.com - of last night’s packed-house at Keys Energy Services in Key West, during which nothing came out of the No Name Key pro-gridders’ mouths. By the time public comments were invited, they had all left.
 
One or more of three things seemed to cause them to leave. KEYS Executive Director Lynne Tejeda said nothing had changed since the January meeting, so she felt they should take no action yet. KEYS Lawyer Nathan Eden told the board KEYS had no statutory requirement to furnish electricity to No Name Key. Then board member Peter Batty said, instead of doing nothing, they should start preparing KEYS’ own declaratory action (DEC) to have ready to file if the County did not file its own DEC action within thirty days.
 
This was a surprise development and many citizen speakers would speak in favor of KEYS not filing the DEC action and deciding instead to leave No Name Key off the grid and/or helping the people out there enhance their solar community by putting in a grid to collect all of their solar energy and share it; the same thing Steven Grasley had proposed in his letter to Alicia Putney, which she had passed along to KEYS directors through Lynne Tejeda.

Probably 90 percent of the citizens, including yours truly, wore green no electricity for No Name Key T-shirts, which had been created for the event. The citizen comments were so eloquent and compelling that I found myself wondering how the board could vote for KEYS filing its own DEC action? KEYS’ “growing greener every day” motto was repeatedly shoved down the board members’ throats and up their you know wheres. The most eloquent shoving came from a Key West High School damsel, to whom I said after she spoke, “You have a great future as a terrorist,” which brought some chuckles including her own.
 
Before the board began its discussion, board member Charlie Bradford asked if anyone was there to speak for electrification? No one came forward and I said, “They all left because it wasn’t important to them.” Board member Ty Symroski then spoke so eloquently and compellingly in support of looking forward, not backward, and doing all possible to enhance No Name Key as a solar community, that I wondered if he should have been knighted on the spot. Symroski’s was the sole no vote against KEYS filing its own DEC.  

I knew from my dreams the night before that the board wasn’t going with the heart and soul issues, and were going with the legal issues. So that’s where I met the board members when I was the first citizen speaker because they took speakers alphabetically and the Bakke (spelling?) couple from No Name Key had already left with the other disgruntled pro-gridders.
 
I reminded the board that their lawyer had only just told them KEYS had no statutory requirement to put electricity on No Name Key. I said I had only just thirty minutes earlier spoken with County Commissioner Kim Wigiginton and had told her even if the County gave KEYS an easement, even if the County gave KEYS written permission to run power over Bogie Channel Bridge out to No Name Key, it would be illegal because the County code, comp plan, etc. forbids running utilities out to No Name Key. I said I had only just yesterday learned the state statute under which a man is being prosecuted for trespassing on Wisteria Island carries a penalty of up to five years in prison. I said this case is far too dangerous to go forward, and if they were my client and chose to go forward I would quit being their lawyer because they didn’t have any sense and they would get into trouble and then they would blame me for it.
 
I probably said precisely what Peter Batty wanted me to say, and perhaps that is what needed to happen, because KEYS filing its own DEC action, or the County filing one of its own, will put the final decision into the hands of a judge and out of the hands of KEYS and the County. The irony is, the pro-grid folks were ecstatic when the County Commission voted 5-0 last December to file a DEC action, yet last night the pro-grid folks walked out after Batty proposed KEYS file its own DEC action.
 
Word had it before the meeting that the pro-gridders were again boasting it was a done deal and they would get what they wanted last night. Maybe at one time it was a done deal. Maybe a bag of money or something sealed the deal two years or longer ago. But maybe the County wasn’t reckoned with. And maybe the law wasn’t reckoned with. And maybe objection from all over the Keys wasn’t reckoned with. Ron Miller and Kay Thacker came all the way from Key Largo to object. What a howl, when Ron told the board for 28 years they had fought the electric company up there putting in a relay station and there was no relay station.
 
Later at Finegan’s Wake, someone said maybe the person who got the bag of money wanted the DEC action filed to get that person off the hook with whoever provided the bag of money which already had been spent. If a court decided it, the person who got paid off would not be responsible. I hope nothing like that happened, but the Keys are notorious for that kind of thing. I have felt for some time now, and the angels have not corrected me, that a backroom deal was made and that was what caused KEYS to go against all reason and try to bull its way into putting No Name Key on the grid.
 
Someone asked at Finnegan’s why the KEYS board is pursuing a DEC action that we the people (taxpayers and ratepayers) will pay for, when the people who want KEYS ungreen electricity run out to No Name Key will get a free ride in the lawsuit? We agreed to be at the next KEYS board meeting to insist the DEC action be paid for by the people who want KEYS electricity run out to No Name Key. The pro-gridders would pay for the infrastructure run out there. The DEC action would be part of the infrastructure cost of providing them with ungreen electricity in furtherance of KEYS new motto: “growing more oil wells every day.”
 
When I suggested the best solution would be to blow up the bridge over Bogie Channel, they really liked the idea. One tree hugger said the pro-gridders would pester the County Commission for a ferry. I said, yeah, to get their $75,000 cars off the island. No telling what might get said by tree huggers who kick back in an Irish Pub after a hard day’s work.
 
Lynne Tejeda told Bill Becker on US 1 Radio yesterday morning that state law required KEYS to furnish electricity to the homes on No Name Key that wanted it, while County law prohibited running utilities out to No Name Key. Thus the necessity for the County’s DEC action to resolve the conflct of laws. I could not believe my ears. I wrote several days ago in a post and sent it to Lynne to forward to the KEYS board that Nathan Eden had argued in a local court case that state law did not apply to KEYS and Judge Payne had agreed. Eden told the board again last night that it had no legal duty to put electricity on No Name Key, with Judge Payne sitting in the audience.
 
KEYS pays Tejeda $159,300 a year plus some nice benefits, I imagine. This was the second time in a week Tejeda put out false information in media on really important issues. The other time, Tejeda said in the Citizen that No Name Key homes that went on the grid would sell excess electricity back to KEYS and that justified running electricity out there. No solar homes on the grid in the Keys sell enough excess energy back to KEYS to be worth mentioning. Many people have been misled by Tejeda about No Name Key. I do not think she is being paid $159,300 a year and nice benefits to mislead the public. I do not understand why she was not told by the KEYS board last night to publicly correct the misinformation she had put out. I wonder if she got some of the money in the bag, or if she knows who got it? Somebody got it, on that I bet my life and my soul.
 
Meanwhile, this was on yesterday’s Coconut Telegraph of bigpinekey.com A fair challenge to me, and for other reasons, I respond.
 
I am very pro-solar, and pro-green to the extent I am able to do so as a renter. While there is a long-term payment program for installation of solar panels by the two Keys Electric companies, to my knowledge, there is no affordable lease program that long-term renters can take advantage of. Also, I reviewed the costs of the program for homeowners, and I thought it was too expensive to attract many takers. KES and FKEC, should find some federal grant programs to subsidize the solar residence program and bring down those costs. Of course, if other folks with solar homes are correct with their figures, savings of only $100 a year will not offset the payment/lease costs. Not many can afford to take on the extra costs involved. So currently, solar generated power with grid-tie is limited to the wealthy with large-scale financial resources to which the $100 rebate is a feel-good thing and does not have to offset their costs. The problem here, I think, is that the electric companies are not paying back properly for this solar-generated power. They have to maintain the profitability of selling electricity they generate to customers, so paying a more appropriate figure for solar-generated feedback power has not in their best interests. I really think they should rethink this. They have to get off of fossil fuel generated power dependency.
 
Additionally, one outspoken poster, pushing hard for No Name Key to stay off the grid, really should put his money where his mouth is, and as a trust funder, he’s got the money. He lives on the power grid, sucking up electricity, and should turn off his electricity, install solar panels, and buy a generator and live just like the solar community out there. Better yet, buy a house out there and walk the walk. If he does not adopt the lifestyle, then he’s a super-size hypocrite to deny any one else commonplace utilities. That goes for the rest of you all out there that don’t have a dog in this fight. Seriously, posts from people in Key West, and Key Largo? Shut off your power, put your home entirely on solar panels, and then you can pipe up and speak from a position of experience.

I wish I was as well-healed as this pilgrim says I am. When I was homeless, I was so green that if I stood in front of an Austrailin pine tree, you had trouble seeing me. I wrote recently that the reason I do what I can to keep No Name Key off the grid is since early 1995 I have had a covenant with God to do what I can to protect No Name and Big Pine Keys. It has nothing to do with what kind of home I live in, but some day I hope to have enough money to use the ROGO letter that came with this single-wide trailer on a one-acre wooded lot on Little Torch Key just across a dirt road from a state wildlife refuge to build a Florida house that will make all the homes on No Name Key look like they are on Keys Energy’s grid. 
  
My green home will have a white-coated metal roof, if the local architectural review board will allow white. Otherwise, a silver or light gray metal roof. The walls probably will be prefab concrete to enhance interior cooling and to last nearly forever. It will be faced to utilize common wind patterns and minimize east, south and west sunlight entering through windows. It will have eves to keep the east/south-west sunlight off the windows and out of the interior. Windows will be screened with vertical hurricane shutters attached for easy closing and battening down. The interior will be designed to set up and maximize convection air currents, perhaps aided by electric fans. There will be no air conditioning but perhaps there will be a swamp cooler. It will have two cisterns, one fed off the roof for drinking water, the other fed off the roof and from the sinks, tub/shower and washing machine for irrigation. It will be all solar-electric with storage batteries until something better comes along. The solar array will be in yard. The PV panels will be salt water resistant. There will be no generator but I might have propane backup for the hot water heater and stove, if such can be designed/engineered. If the County allows, it will have compost toilet or toilets. Otherwise, on-site electric sewerage treatment plants. It will have satellite wireless, internet and television. I don’t use FAX or copying machines. I don’t use paper to print except every now and then I go to a place to print out something short when I have to have it on paper.
 
I learned how to build most of this home in 1982, at The Shelter Institute in Bath, Maine. I’d hate to see that experience and dream go to waste.
 
If the county will allow it, I will only raise the house six feet above ground level on poured concrete pillars. I prefer it stand out to public view as little as possible. I will pay cash. No mortgage. No insurance. Like I said, totally off the grid. I will continue to work the land, building gardens, raised and natural, that blend into what already grows here. There are nice trees on the property, don’t know where they came from. There is a sink hole about three-feet deep with hardpan bottom that holds rain water until it evaporates, don’t know how that came about. Lots of birds around here. Nature spirits in residence. Real Key deer who high-tail it if they see you. Lots of other critters, some you might recognize, others not, depending on your “depth perception.”
 
No Name Key is hardly the only sacred ground in the Keys, but it represents something truly special, which the pro-grid folks on No Name Key cannot possibly fathom. They could have bought a home just about anywhere in the Keys and been on the grid, but they bought on No Name Key, which tells me at the level of soul they wanted to be off the grid regardless of what later came out of their mouths.
 
Sloan Bashinsky
 
keysmyhome@hotmail.com
 
goodmorningfloridakeys.com, goodmorningkeywest.com

Keys Energy Services motto

What’s the difference between a Conch Republic fairytale and a No Name Key fairytale? 
 

I sent yesterday’s Growing Greener – No Name Key post to Keys Energy Services Executive Director Lynne Tejeda with a request she forward it to the Keys Energy board members, and received this back. 
  

I would hazard a large wager that if Keys Energy runs electricity on to No Name Key, homeowners like Doug Philipp will hook up to Keys Energy’s grid and will not upgrade their solar systems to meet Keys Energy’s very strict requirements for tying solar into its grid and selling electricity back to it. Once again am I thinking what this really is about is the pro-grid ringleaders want electricity and water run out to No Name Key because that’s the only way they see to realize their real agenda: to further develop as much of No Name Key as they can get away with. Alicia Putney said as much during an interview yesterday afternoon on US 1 Radio.

An elegant solution to all of this was this Spring Equinox email yesterday from Alicia to Keys Energy:

S O L A R I A Design & Consulting Co.

3000 Overseas Highway, Marathon, FL 33050

P: 305.289.7980 F: 305.768.0132 Email: info@solariadesign.com 

 Thank you for your interest in SOLARIA and contacting us with your questions about ways to bring more power to No Name Key.

 As you know, we are an architecture, engineering and land planning firm with sustainable design as a core competency. In addition to a wide range of advanced technologies, SOLARIA designs solar power systems for residential and commercial applications for installation throughout Florida and other states. Our staff and principals have completed over 100 solar

system designs in the last 10+ years ranging in size from just a few watts to well over 100 kW. And except for the older systems on No Name Key, and but a few of the solar systems installed in the Keys recently, SOLARIA has produced the designs for nearly every solar system built in the Keys in the last 4 years. I personally designed the very first grid tied solar system installed on the Keys Energy Grid that was deployed in Key West over 3 years ago.

 Recently, SOLARIA completed the designs for a 13 home community planned for construction in Key Largo. This community is designed completely off-grid. All power is provided by solar. And all water is provided by rainwater collection systems. Each home has its own solar system. But what makes this community unique is that SOLARIA developed the concept of a “mini-grid” for the community. The mini-grid allows homes in the development to share power, and in this case to also share water. This technique provides for a more efficient and cost effective design. These homes are based on high efficiency structural insulated panel (SIP) construction and have full air conditioning systems. The project is currently being permitted through the rigorous ROGO process and will begin construction as soon as the necessary allocations have been awarded.

 In response to your question as to whether or not a solar PV installation could be used to meet the requests for additional electricity for the homes on No Name Key, the answer is, “yes.” Solar power technology is mature, available, and reliable. High power systems are becoming common. Examples of large systems are already present in the Keys. The Eco-Discovery Center in Key West, the Marathon FKEC office, and FKEC’s Crawl Key Substation are a few such examples. What makes the situation on No Name Key unique for solar augmentation is that all the homes there already have solar systems. These systems could be interconnected with modifications to form the cost effective mini-grid concept I mentioned earlier. This would allow power from unoccupied homes to “share”power with other homes on the mini-grid. The mini-grid should be established with a higher reliability underground wiring system which would avoid unnecessary and unsightly overhead wires. And based on what I know at this point about No Name Key, an underground grid could be built with little impact to public property. Presuming space is available, it is practical and reasonable to construct a “large solar farm” to provide more power to No Name Key without the requirement to run grid power from the KES grid to the island. This approach seems to me to be a solid middle ground for those that wish to remain solar and those that desire the additional power and sell-back potential of a grid connection.

 It is not possible to precisely estimate the cost of a solar based grid without a more careful analysis and study of this approach specifically for No Name Key. However, SOLARIA’s experience would lead us to conclude that the price of a solar based approach would actually be less expensive over the life of the system as compared to a standard grid, even though initial construction costs might be slightly higher. Again, a specific study would be required and I would recommend that Keys Energy Service conduct such a study. SOLARIA would certainly be prepared to conduct or support this effort.

 Although grants and other entitlement funding for solar has become less available as solar has become more common and cost effective, it seems to me that a unique solar based power system for No Name Key might be something that could be funded with special sources of money. I believe KES was recently awarded a Florida Energy and Climate Commission grant that could apply. Certainly, a solar supported grid should be something that would get the attention of funding sources looking for unique and forward thinking solutions.

 A few other comparisons or considerations are worth noting:

 • Typical large system (>100 kW) construction costs are currently in the range of $4-$5/watt. Just two years ago this price was more like $8-$10/watt but the price decreases in solar panels have been dramatic and has leveled off over the last 8 months.

 • Based on current costs listed above, the $650,000 cost of the proposed No Name Key overhead line extension would fund construction of a large scale solar system in the range of 150 kW.

 • If power from a 150 kW system could be directed to 25 homes, each home would have an additional 6,000 watts peak, or 33 kW-hrs daily above what they already have from their existing solar system.

 • Over a nominal 30 year life (which is likely much longer), a 150 kW solar system will produce an estimated $2.2M worth of electricity at local retail rates simply escalated. 

 In fact, SOLARIA is currently in the process of working with a large scale property development company in Florida to develop the community level mini-grid concept for a “green village” within a planned development. The approach being developed is to dedicate a 50-100 home subset of a 500-1000 home planned community and build it with the full deployment of the mini-grid concept for all typical utility services: water, electricity, sewer and reclaimed water. Each home will have a full solar system, cistern and advanced waste treatment systems. Our research indicates there are substantial environmental and cost benefits with this approach, and the market is ready. No Name Key has spontaneously evolved along this same path and in

some ways could be a model community for others to consider.

 Let me summarize the important points in closing:

 1. A solar farm or simply a solar source for extra power is realistic and viable for No Name Key.

 2. Technology is readily available, as are deployment concepts, which could make solar an attractive alternative to a conventional grid installation for No Name Key.

 3. At a budgetary level the cost of installing solar augmentation on No Name Key is in a range comparable to installing conventional grid technology.

 4. The mini-grid concept may offer a solution that is attractive to both the grid and solar only advocates because it can provide the essence of what both sides are looking for.

 5. A specific study of the various approaches presented above would be worth exploring.

 Please let me know if SOLARIA can be of further assistance to you with this matter.

 Sincerely,

 Steven Grasley

SOLARIA Design & Consulting

Keys Goes Solar

CLICK HERE to view the real-time output of KEYS’  Solar Demonstration Unit

Keys Energy Services (KEYS) formed a partnership with the Florida Municipal Power Agency (FMPA) and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary to construct a solar demonstration in Key West.

The 26 kilowatt (AC) solar photovoltaic system is located at the Florida Keys Eco-Discovery Center in Key West and began operation in spring 2010. An educational kiosk within the Center provides the public with information about renewable energy and energy conservation. The system is jointly owned by FMPA and NOAA and operated by KEYS.

PROJECT DEMONSTRATES “PEEL AND STICK” SOLAR TECHNOLOGY

This solar partnership supports the development of renewable generation technologies by demonstrating the use of an advanced solar photovoltaic technology.

This project uses a “peel and stick” solar system, which generates electricity with an innovative thin-film solar panel that is mounted to the rooftop using an adhesive material. The thin-film technology was selected as the best match for the Florida Keys’ unique environmental conditions. Other advantages include technology that captures the complete solar spectrum more efficiently, the ability to generate at low light levels, and its flexible and lightweight construction.

The project cost $235,928, with FMPA’s All-Requirements Project paying 62-percent and NOAA’s Office of National Marine Sanctuaries paying 38-percent. KEYS, through an existing agreement with FMPA, will provide operation and maintenance support for the system.

SOLAR HELPS UTILITIES REDUCE GREENHOUSE GAS EMISSIONS

Solar generation technology produces no emissions, helping Florida’s municipal electric utilities reduce greenhouse gas emissions. This demonstration project is part of FMPA’s plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions back to year-2000 levels by 2017.

INTERACTIVE KIOSK EDUCATES PUBLIC ABOUT SOLAR

Educating the public is a key element of this solar partnership. The Eco-Discovery Center prominently displays an interactive kiosk that provides information about global climate change and renewable generating technologies, as well as the role consumers can play in reducing energy consumption and supporting renewable generation.

The Florida Keys Eco-Discovery Center in Key West features an exciting array of interactive exhibits, dioramas, and displays, including a 2,400 gallon aquarium, all highlighting the rich natural environment of the Florida Keys. The Center is free to the public and a must-see for Keys residents and visitors of all ages. The Center is located at 35 East Quay Road, in Truman Annex in Key West, across the street from the entrance to Fort Zachary Taylor Historic State Park.

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 When I walked into the packed Keys Energy Services board meeting last January, a pro-electrification No Name Key person said, “The devil himself.” I smiled back, said, “And I haven’t even said anything yet.” Little did I then know how much I would have to say to Keys Energy.

 Sloan Bashinsky 

 keysmyhome@hotmail.com 

 goodmorningfloridakeys.com, goodmorningkeywest.com