Ron DeSantis confident in JEA’s ability to handle Hurricane Dorian impacts

Hurricane Dorian is bearing down on Florida. And Gov. Ron DeSantis is visiting local Emergency Operations Centers.

Jacksonville was the Ponte Vedra Republican’s final stop Thursday afternoon, on a day where there are more unknowns than knowns about what will be a Category 4 monster.

While models generally agree that Hurricane Dorian will menace Florida, the exact location of landfall is unpredictable, with the “cone of uncertainty” sprawling across the peninsula.

The most recent Euro model showed a buzz saw cut up the east coast of Florida, a swath of devastation that necessitates the 67-county State of Emergency declared in Brevard County earlier in the afternoon.

DeSantis, flanked by Lt. Gov. Jeanette Núñez, Jacksonville Mayor Lenny Curry, and a host of locals, made the case he’d made earlier in the week in Jacksonville: to be ready for what comes.

He noted that he expects “full support” from the federal government, a sign of the relationship the Governor has with Pres. Donald Trump.

Mayor Curry, in his brief remarks, lauded the “relationship with our city, our Governor, and his team.”

Curry especially noted that, in the case of road and bridge closures and reopenings, and funding, and so on, the relationship is key.

There is another place, potentially, where that relationship could be particularly key: slow power restoration, an issue after 2016 and 2017’s hurricanes.

In 2016, then-CEO Paul McElroy was out of town as Hurricane Matthew cut its swath through the area. He eventually got back, but the optics were suboptimal.

In 2017, frustration mounted in both the City Council and the Mayor’s Office about the slow pace of power restoration after Hurricane Irma.

One Mayoral staffer was “frustrated … speechless.”

2019 sees a new JEA CEO: Aaron Zahn, who makes over half a million dollars a year. The utility is exploring privatization as well.

Meanwhile, DeSantis has expressed worries about the performance of municipal utilities during this storm.

“I’m concerned about some of the municipal utilities,” DeSantis said in Jacksonville Thursday.

However, JEA is not one of them, the Governor added.

“[CEO Zahn and I] had a great discussion. I stressed the state’s interest,” DeSantis said, ” in marshaling the state’s resources, so that when the storm passes, we can go in and restore power quickly.”

“That’s something that Florida Power and Light is very keyed in on, and I was impressed with the actions that have been taken here,” DeSantis added.

“It’s a situation where sometimes you need to have more resources,” DeSantis added. “Florida Power and Light is a big company.”

The Governor would not comment on whether FPL should acquire JEA.

Zahn said JEA is “fully prepared” for the storm.

“We are the experts,” the CEO asserted.

“Lessons learned from Matthew and Irma” abound.

On the water side, backup power generation for lift stations.

From the electrical side, mutual aid from Texas is available, as well as coordination with other utilities in Florida.

“We are prepared,” Zahn said.

As prepared as FPL?

“I’m sure FPL is just as prepared as JEA and we’re both very good at utilities.”

“We are the experts.”