FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Paul O'Connor, Lee County Community Development
              (239) 479-8309

PUBLIC WORKSHOP SET FOR PROPOSED FPL TRANSMISSION LINE

FORT MYERS, Fla. (July 15, 2003) - A public workshop has been scheduled for Monday (July 21) so local residents can receive information and ask questions about a proposed Florida Power & Light transmission line running from the Orange River to Collier County.

The meeting will be at 1:30 p.m. in the meeting room of the East County Regional Library, 881 Gunnery Road in Lehigh Acres.

FPL has made application under the "Transmission Line Siting Act" to locate the line from the FPL Orange River substation in Lee County to the Collier substation located near Naples. As part of the statutory process, Lee County is afforded the option of requesting that the administrative law judge hold a public hearing here. The Board of Lee County Commissioners voted in June to make such a request and a formal hearing has been scheduled for Oct. 29. This is separate from Monday's workshop.

To learn more details about the project - officially titled the "Collier-Orange River #3 - 230 kilovolt (kV) Transmission Line Project" - visit FPL's web site at http://www.fpl.com/about/profile/contents/collier.shtml.

Lee County Government's involvement in this project is to ensure the public has adequate information and ability to comment prior to the certification hearing in October.