progress energy

There's been a moratorium on the construction of new nuclear power stations for many years, and for many damned good reasons. Those reasons range from safety to economics with many environmental concerns in between, and are (mostly) based on numerous in-depth and qualified studies that had/have our best interests at heart.

From the AP:

LAKE NORMAN, N.C. - Nuclear reactors across the Southeast could be forced to throttle back or temporarily shut down later this year because drought is drying up the rivers and lakes that supply power plants with the awesome amounts of cooling water they need to operate.

Utility officials say such shutdowns probably wouldn’t result in blackouts. But they could lead to shockingly higher electric bills for millions of Southerners, because the region’s utilities could be forced to buy expensive replacement power from other energy companies.

Progress Energy will postpone the addition of a new reactor at their Shearon Harris nuclear power plant in southern Wake County. They will attempt to achieve the same results through "aggressive conservation".

Well, between the re-design of Scrutiny Hooligans and the outages here at BlueNC, this may have slipped past everyone.

{Crossposted from the new Scrutiny Hooligans site}

The Woodfin Board of Adjustment denied Progress Energy the conditional use permit to build their diesel-fired power plant. While Progress Energy can appeal the Board's decision through the Court of Appeals, this unnecessary, ill-conceived, sneakily planned power plant is kaput.

Give yourselves a hand.

From the AC-T: "A town board early this morning voted down a proposal by Progress Energy to build a $72 million power plant in Woodfin.

After midnight last night, the town board of Woodfin gave the Buncombe County Commission a lesson in public service and denied Progress Energy a permit to build the proposed diesel power plant.
150 angry Woodfin residents sent the message loud and clear apparently, and the 7-0 vote sent another message to the County Seat.

Evades question on alternatives,

health consequences, lack of public input;

Calls the Woodfin power plant "a good decision"

{Carol agreed to the interview as part of my "Women in Power" series for BlueNC's Women on Wednesdays. The videos were uploaded Saturday. On Sunday, she called to ask me to "pull" the ones referring to the Progress Energy Woodfin plant. I offered to correct any inaccuracies either in print or by video. She has not responded.}

In her courthouse office last Tuesday, Buncombe County Commission Vice Chair Carol Peterson insisted she and fellow commissioners did not meet secretly with Progress Energy before unanimously approving a $72 million diesel-fired power plant.

Click on the video below the fold to hear her comments.

The North Carolina Public Interest Research Group released a study this week which places North Carolina second, behind Ohio, for the highest level of power plant pollutants released into the air in 2004. Come on, Progress. Come on Duke. We can do better. Number 2 is the first loser, right guys?

The 65-page report is long on detail and begins,

Every day in America, industrial facilities release millions of pounds of toxic substances into the nation’s air and water. Many Americans – especially those who live in close proximity to industrial facilities –harbor deep concern about how those toxic releases may affect their health.

Harbor deep concern about those toxic releases affecting their health. Go figure. I mean, it's not like we have County Commissioners and power companies making secret deals to build just such industrial facilities upwind from cities... oh, wait, here in Buncombe County we do. And it is not like industry would lie about their ambitions and facts about their pollution... oh wait, they do that too.

At meetings and barbecues where the political class comes together to guess at what will keep them in office, the conventional wisdom appears to be (1) ignore the procedural violations leading to the unstudied County Commission decision; (2) tout other environmental projects without mentioning the pollution to be created by the favored diesel power plant; and (3) shut out any alternative energy proposals by barreling ahead with the diesel-fired plant.

To be fair, today's position is a far stretch better than where we were last week. Before that, the Commission's Chair behaved petulantly during public comment and public outcry was met with stony silence and defensiveness. Every single County Commissioner avoided the Mountain Voices Alliance public meeting to educate the community on the implications of the diesel power plant.

Conservation and open democracy proved to be universal values at Mountain Voices Alliance Clean Energy Task Force, held in Woodfin this past Saturday from 10-1 and again from 1-4. The two sessions drew about a hundred residents hungry for information and options regarding the despised proposal for a diesel-fired power plant in Woodfin. Asheville City Councilman Brownie Newman attended the morning session, and NC Representative Charles Thomas opened the afternoon session.

A half-dozen organizations, including MVA and Rising Tide, spread information regarding a proposed Democratic Party resolution against the diesel plant, the legislative path of the power plant's approval, and initiatives to fight the plant. The groups have come together under the banner of creating a healthy energy future for Buncombe County.