The Contact 5 Investigators examined a multi-million dollar project that Florida Power & Light says will "enhance electric service to our customers."
However, some claim part of the project on the Indian River Lagoon is dangerous and illegal.
FPL is building a new transmission line that will run from the St. Lucie Nuclear Plant, under the Indian River Lagoon, to the company's Turnpike substation.
When Contact 5 started looking into complaints about the project from people who live on the Indian River Lagoon, we found violations that Florida's Department of Environmental Protection either missed or ignored.
"These pipes, right here, are the ones that they're not permitted to have in the Indian River Lagoon," said Dana Wade from the captain's chair of his pontoon boat when he took a crew from the Contact 5 Investigators on the water last Thursday.
Dana and his wife Deena said they have lived in their home on the Indian River for the more than two decades.
Recently retired, Dana says he likes nothing more than the peaceful, serene atmosphere of his neighborhood.
It's something he says changed in September 2015 when FPL started a multi-year, multi-million dollar construction project 200 feet from his home.
"It's very loud, it wakes us up in the middle of the night. We've had many sleepless nights," said Deena Wade.
From November until March, FPL had a special permit from the St. Lucie County Board of commissioners to operate the construction site 24 hours a day.
The special permit came with some conditions. First, that FPL crews not create sustained noises louder than 60 dB for any two-minute period between 6 p.m. and 7 a.m. Next, that construction would halt if and when a violation occurred.
The Contact 5 Investigators found public records with St. Lucie County showing FPL violated the noise ordinance 421 times between Dec. 11, 2015 and Jan. 11, 2016. However, a spokesperson for St. Lucie Co. says the board of commissioners elected not to issue a single fine against FPL.
Dana and Deena Wade say they've filed suit against FPL for the way the construction project has affected their lives.
Despite that, Dana says he's more concerned with pipes that have been floating out in the Indian River Lagoon since mid February.
"Someone's going to hit these pipes, get knocked out of their boat and get killed," Dana Said.
The pipes stretch out into the Indian River Lagoon more than 1,000 feet, floating on top of the water. FPL says these same pipes will eventually be fed through a larger pipe 55 feet beneath the lagoon.
Contact 5 reached out to Florida's Department of Environmental Protection to inquire about the pipes that Wade claimed are in the Indian River Lagoon illegally. We received the following response on March 10: "The FPL project is permitted although the floating pipes are not specifically addressed in the permit."
After requesting a copy of the DEP permit issued to FPL, Contact 5 learned that's not true. The permit does specifically reference the pipe. The permit says the pipe "shall be floated from A1A across Big Mud Creek," which is in a channel maintained by FPL directly to the west of the St. Lucie Nuclear Plant.
The channel is marked off by buoys to keep boaters out but they also mark the end of the area DEP permitted FPL to "stage" its pipes. However, the pipes run straight past the buoys and zigzag a thousand feet out into the Indian River Lagoon.
Contact 5 again reached out to DEP to explain the pipes location and received the following statement on March 11 from the DEP: "You are correct the permit authorizes the pipes to be floated from A1A and across Big Mud Creek. Upon researching resident concerns about navigational hazards due to the pilings and pipes floating into the Indian River, we became aware the pipes had floated outside of the permitted area."
We noticed the wording "floated outside the permitted area" right away.
The FPL pipes are anchored in place and chained to five large, metal pilings, which have been driven into the bed of the Indian River Lagoon since the pipes appeared around a month ago in mid February.
We've been asking both Florida Power & Light and the Department of Environmental Protection to have a representative meet us on the Indian River Lagoon to explain why FPL violated its permit and why the DEP hasn't responded to the violation.
That request has not been acknowledged. We did receive the statement below just before 5 p.m. Monday evening, March 14, from the DEP: "DEP is communicating with FPL and it is our understanding that the remaining (pipes) should be removed by the end of the day today, and the pilings should be removed by tomorrow (March15, 2016)."
Contact 5 has asked the DEP if FPL will be fined or sanction as a result of violating its permit. We have not received an answer, but we will keep asking until we do.
