The Siting Coordination Office (SCO), in conjunction with the Office of General Counsel, is the part of the Department of Environmental Protection which has been assigned the tasks for coordinating the interagency review and certification (licensing) under three "Siting Acts";

• Threshold steam-electric power plants under the Electrical Power Plant Siting Act.

• Threshold Electrical Transmission Lines under the Transmission Line Siting Act.

• Threshold Intrastate Natural Gas Pipelines under the Natural Gas Transmission Pipeline Siting Act.

Certification is an umbrella permit for all affected state, regional and local agencies, and includes any regulatory activity which would be applicable under these agencies regulations for the facility.

Other programs include;

• Compliance verification of Electric & Magnetic Fields from transmission lines and substations.

• Assistance to County Tax Assessors regarding Ad Valorem Taxes Pollution Control program.

To discuss a program area or particular case, please call the main SCO switchboard to be referred to the appropriate staff member handling the matter, or use the "Contact DEP" link above.

Special Projects 

• Providing input on a variety of Energy-related matters including

             - Hydrogen-fueled Transportation
             - Solar-Powered Fuel Cell
             - Hybrid Cars
  

• Participating in the Department sponsored project geared toward Compliance/Enforcement Cross-training on several industrial topics, including Power Plants.
  

Historical Programs or Activities

The SCO throughout its existence has had various tasks assigned to which are typically not permanent in nature which have included:

• Assistance to the Energy 2020 Study Commission.  Numerous other state, regional, and local agencies are involved as well. 
• Review and assistance under the High Speed Rail Authority Act
• Coordination support under the now repealed Magnetic Levitation Demonstration Act. The one-project-only Act was passed, and one project wa
• s certified, but certification was eventually withdrawn because of funding problems.
• Coordination support under the now repealed Jobs Siting Act.
• Coordination support under the now repealed Industrial Siting Act.
• Participation on the Department's Task Force on the Crossing of State Lands by the Utilities.
• The development of Best Management Practices for electrical transmission line rights-of way.
• Update of the Memorandum of Agreement between the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the Department, and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency regarding Water Quality Certification.
• Participation on the Committee reviewing Enterprise Zones (economically depressed areas which may be eligible for tax breaks and other considerations).
• Performance of Oil Transport and Spill Modeling Assessments, which has included working with the Florida State University's Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Institute on authoring several papers, and also with a working committee of the National Research Council's Marine Board.

Like all the other program areas of the Department, much of the SCO's time is spent in such behind-the-scenes activities such as Statute & Rule development.  In the past few years, we completed revisions to the Power Plant Siting rule and were developing proposed revisions to the Act.

In addition to the Siting Acts which are in effect or were discussed above, other Statutes that the SCO has been asked to assist with working on in the past have included:

• The Locally Undesirable Land Use (LULU) Act (a coordinated, consolidated permitting Act for a wide variety of projects which are difficult to find a publicly acceptable location for). This Act was never passed.
• The Industrial Siting Act.  This Act was actually passed and rules adopted for it, but no applications were ever submitted.  The Act was repealed and the Jobs Siting Act was created to replace it. This Act, too, was repealed.
• The Expedited Permitting provision of 403.973, F.S.
• The Superconducting Supercollider Act, which was intended to facilitate the permitting of a large testing center to work in conjunction with high intensity magnetic fields research programs. The State did not receive the bid for the project, and impetus for the passage of the bill dissolved.
• A Spaceport Authority Act. This was never passed.
• The Detention Facility Siting Act. This was never passed.
• The Regional Transit Authority Act, which eventually evolved into the High Speed Rail Act of 1984.
• A Petroleum Pipeline Siting Act.  Due to difficulties relating to land use and zoning issues, a bill draft was never finalized and sent to the Legislature.