Middle of flowering w/ lower leaves dying. Should i remove them?

A few of the lower leaves have begun to yellow and die, which I am told is normal as you get closer to harvest. Should i remove them or let them fall off naturally?

Some say leave em, some say pick em...u choose.

Yeah I've read both work, but are there pros or cons to either? Thanks for the help!

when those leaves on the bottom die, the plant is usually telling you , it's out of Nitrogen in the soil

a lot of new growers make the mistake of giving the plant bloom boosters, which are worthless without a N source.
Less is more with bloomboosters

know that the soil has around 1 month of nutes in it after transplant (more if it's really big)
so if you transplant, then flower, 1 month or so you need to supplement nitrogen or you'll see the bottom leafs fade

best ways to combat this are either top dressing the soil every 2-3 weeks, if you dont have a liquid fertilizer, or adding liquid ferts that include enough N for the plant ( i like npk around 3-1-2 , 6-2-4, ect...)

also if you think the bottom is light deprived, throw a CFL bulb in there. You can use a bed lamp or something without a shade just till it's done.
always try to avoid chopping things off, yes the plant can handle it but I believe its counter productive and unnecessary; you aren't "boosting" yield doing that unless you have an overabundance of foliage that wouldn't have gotten adequate light unless you cut it
Don't worry about flushing, worry about over ferting
IMO , defoliation doesn't have a place. Some people say they do it, but I always think there's a way around it. They say to each his own

Definitely take them off. Any leaf that is more than 50% damaged should be removed as it is a waste of energy for the plant to repair. Lower leaves especially die off first as there is a lack of light and they are the eldest. Removing lower leaves also improves air flow and makes it easier to water. Do it ! Your plant will look better too!

Right now I'm using organic plantone for nutes, which says it has 5% nitrogen. I add nutes once a month. The bottom leaves get pretty good sunlight throughout the day. My concern is wasted energy if the plant is trying to revive dying leaves. Does it actually impact flowering? If so, where/how should I cut them?

Why bother. When you rip or cut leaves off the plant has to divert energy into repairing that cut, like a person pulling off a scab too early on a graze etc. Only remove yellow leaves when they could cause mold by laying on buds after falling.

yup i would be more worried about mold and bugs from the dead leaves the bigger the room bigger the problem

Just let it fall off, and give the plant some nitrogen not just p and k. It needs a balance of all three. Yellow leaves are non productive, keep them green.