TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — A state-level regulatory agency that oversees public utilities is considering a Florida Power & Light’s proposal for a new project in South Florida’s western wildland, along the Florida Everglades.

The five-member Florida Public Service Commission met on Thursday in Tallahassee for a hearing about the Andytown-Oasis project to place four transmission lines from Broward to Miami-Dade.

A representative of the Environmental Defense Fund, a nonpartisan nonprofit organization based in New York, was critical of the proposal.

“FPL did not conduct a full evaluation of alternatives,” David Cranston, EDF’s Florida clean energy manager, said during the meeting.

Related document: EDF’s prehearing statement

Ted Thomas, a Florida-based energy consultant and a former chairman of the Arkansas Public Service Commission, highlighted issues with cost and technology.

“FPL is asking you to approve a nearly billion-dollar capital expenditure based on an outdated silo approach to transmission planning,” Thomas told the Florida PSC panel during the meeting.

Despite the controversy, Gov. Ron DeSantis’s appointees to the Florida PSC, Gabriella Passidomo Smith, Mike La Rosa, Gary F. Clark, Ana Ortega, and Bobby Payne did not have any questions during the meeting.

The Florida PSC members will receive post-meeting notes next week, and they will have to decide if there is a public need for FPL’s proposed project.

Related document: Procedure for petition for determination of need

FPL reported that the transmission lines are meant to deal with “an increase of approximately 220,000 new customers” from 2026 to 2033 in Miami-Dade, which will translate into an 11% load increase.

One of the four transmission lines would start at FPL’s existing Andytown substation in Broward and end at FPL’s planned Oasis substation in Miami-Dade, according to the Florida PSC.

In Miami-Dade, a second line would start at FPL’s Quarry substation and end at the Oasis substation. Two other lines would start at Oasis, but one would end at Quarry and the other at the Levee substation.

According to FPL, after completing the design and permitting phase in 2028, construction is set to begin in 2029 and end in late 2033.