Fact check: Biden says Obama spent 'hundreds of millions' to bury Florida power lines
After Hurricane Idalia knocked out power to about a half million northern Florida homes and businesses in late August, President Joe Biden said it would have been worse if the federal government hadn't improved the state's electrical grid.
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Frozen bottles of water, slushy popsicles and melting ice cream get you only so far when the power goes out in a hurricane.
After Hurricane Idalia knocked out power to about a half million northern Florida homes and businesses in late August, President Joe Biden said it would have been worse if the federal government hadn’t improved the state’s electrical grid.
"Under the Obama-Biden administration, we invested hundreds of millions of dollars in the state of Florida replacing wooden power poles with steel poles, and we buried these electric lines," Biden said at the White House Aug. 31.
Days later, Biden surveyed damage in Live Oak, Florida, where broken and downed power lines signaled widespread power outages that commonly follow hurricanes and tropical storms. Biden said that FEMA could in the future replace the wooden poles with steel poles.
We wondered if Biden was right about the earlier work: Did the Obama administration spend hundreds of millions to keep the lights on (and, most importantly, air conditioning running!) in Florida?
We contacted multiple federal, state and local government agencies in Florida. We did not find the figure Biden cited.
FEMA provides grants to bury power lines
Nationwide, most lines are above ground. States and utilities have sought ways to pay for bringing poles underground. Florida has hardened its electricity distribution system with stronger steel poles for the larger, high-voltage transmission lines, said Ed Hirs, who teaches energy economics at the University of Houston. Much of that work came after Hurricane Andrew hit in 1992.
Burying power lines can cost up to $1 million per mile — an expense that local and state governments have not wanted to cover. And underground lines can flood, said Joshua D. Rhodes, research scientist at University of Texas at Austin. However,an underground system results in "fewer points of failure than having 100s of miles of lines way up," Rhodes said.
A White House spokesperson referred us to the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which sent us a spreadsheet of grants given to states over decades for electrical lines or poles mitigation.
But other agencies spend on hurricane proofing, too. So, we kept looking.
HUD provided hazard mitigation grants to Florida following 2016 hurricanes
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development also gives hazard mitigation grants. A HUD spokesperson told us that the agency gave about $118 million for Florida after the 2016 hurricanes Hermine and Matthew.
But the information we received from HUD did not specify how much money, if any, was spent on burying electrical lines or replacing wooden poles.
Florida, through subrecipients, used the money to repair storm-damaged infrastructure, build affordable housing and rehab homes, according to a statement HUD sent us. Burying electrical lines and replacing poles would qualify as eligible activities, although when the money was allocated, HUD prohibited using it to assist private utilities. That block is no longer in place.
The Florida Division of Emergency Management found one electrical project that received $500,000 during the Obama administration: an underground utility lines project in Coconut Creek, a city in Broward County. A city spokesperson confirmed the project.
We sent a summary of our findings about FEMA and HUD grants back to the White House for comment.
PolitiFact ruling
Biden said, "Under the Obama-Biden administration, we invested hundreds of millions of dollars in the state of Florida replacing wooden power poles with steel poles and we buried these electric lines."
The White House pointed to FEMA grants, which added up to far less than the amount Biden cited, and to smart electrical grid projects, which are not the same as burying power lines.
If Biden had said that during the Obama administration, the federal government invested hundreds of millions of dollars in electrical-related projects, he would have been on firmer ground. But that’s not what he said.
We rate this statement False.
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