Why Didn't FPL (Florida Power & Light) Do More to Prepare for Irma?

[RockaFowler]

2. FPL has fought against it

FPL has also resisted some seemingly foolproof solutions to avoid storm outages, such as burying more lines. In a city that names its sports teams for hurricanes, a huge portion of FPL's power lines still sit above-ground and get blown apart even in tropical storm conditions.

The company's stubborn stance on burying lines has been on full display in an ongoing fight over 88 miles of new power lines it wants to build connecting to the Turkey Point Nuclear Generating Station in Homestead. That battle has dragged on for the better part of this decade, all because FPL has refused to bury lines. In 2014, the energy-friendly Gov. Rick Scott said FPL could move ahead with the project, but local governments sued. This year, FPL and the City of Miami settled their suit, and the company agreed to bury five miles of lines as long as the city dropped the rest of its complaints.