Samurai governor. Veto sword. Cat.

Concerns are mounting to tsunami proportions that the Florida House is going to somehow swamp efforts to create a robust renewable energy market in Florida during these final weeks of the 2009 Legislature.

All eyes are on Gov. Charlie Crist. Will he step in and use his immense popularity with the public to get the robust renewable energy market he's been pushing for these past two years? The guv says he's working it. But there's no sign the message is getting through yet to the House, which some observers say remains as recalcitrant as a thick, wooly hangover following a late night debauch at Clyde's and Costello's.

Thus, while some 30 other states are making the switch to solar and biomass, wind and wave, Floridians could wake up May 6 still hostage to coal and oil and natural gas, wondering how to afford keeping the lights on.

The Senate has a bill that calls for 15 percent of our energy to come from renewable sources by 2020 and includes the requirement that this new energy come from a certain amount carved out for solar.

(Coincidentally, Florida TaxWatch just released a glowing report on solar energy in Florida. http://www.floridataxwatch.org/resources/pdf/04162009SolarEnergy.pdf)

Word on the street is that the House will make a show of meeting the governor's target of getting 20 percent of our energy from renewable sources by 2020 but will do so in such a weak form the envisioned market place for renewable electricity will never develop. No carve out for solar, in other words.

Maybe the governor's approach to the House will very soon begin to follow the lines of the old Chinese story about the Zen master whose followers were squabbling over whether a cat in their midst shared the same reality as a Buddha. The master scooped up the cat and a sword. Brandishing the blade above the cat he challenged the assembly to act, to say something. They hesitated and .. swoosh!

Substitute the veto pen for the sword. Let the cat stand for everything House leaders hold most dear -- including their budget requests, pet bills, and their argument in support of a 10 percent renewable energy plan (a plan renewable energy market participants would not support, of course).

Some think the governor should not stop at renewable energy. Why not go for broke and muscle through legislation requiring lower emissions for new cars, too? After all, these are the twin policies he has said are the most required to lower our CO2 emissions and slow global climate change, which experts agree will prove destructive and costly to Florida.

Samurai Charlie! Are you sharpening your blade?