No Nukes

January 11 2009

IMPORTANT

The Florida Public Service Commission (PSC) has decided to leave the nuclear decision up the Legislature, which will act on its recommendation in the spring. It is crucial that you contact your legislator to tell her/him why nuclear power is a dangerous, expensive and all-around BAD choice.

On this page , we shall present reasons, and evidence why we, here at the Ecology Party , feel that sustainable energy resources are better, and should take precedence over the construction of new Nuclear power plants.

January 12 2009

Higher Utility bills linked to construction of new Nuclear Power Plants in Levy County, Fl.

Story

According to this story , the steep rate hike that Progress energy has given to their Central Florida cutomers ($27.28 per 1000 kilowatt hours) - is caused in part, by the construction of the new Nuke Plant in Levy County. Of that $27.28, $ 11.42 goes toward building the new plant, and the remaining $14.09 for the higher cost of fuel.

Opinion - Ouch ! Those Nuke Planets ARE expensive , aren't they?
All the more reasons to invest in , and rely on sustainable energy sources such as Solar, wind, bioenergy, geothermal, and ocean energy .

December 30 2008

By TONY MARRERO

Hernando Today

Published: December 27, 2008

BROOKSVILLE - Progress Energy

Progress Energy may need more right of way fortransmission - lines through Hernando County, but that need will be "limited," the company said Friday. Progress has set an informational open house for Wednesday, Jan. 14, in Brooksville to give the public a look at preferred corridors for the lines that would run some 40 miles south from its proposed nuclear plant in Levy County,through Citrus County and into Hernando to move power to this region of the state.

Property owners north and west of the company's Brookridge Substation will want to pay close attention to the process, Progress Energy spokeswoman Wendy Horne said.

It is that portion of the county where Progress Energy already has an existing power corridor but "may" need more right of way for the new power lines, according to Horne and a press release the company issued Friday announcing the public meeting. The substation is located just east of Sunshine Grove Road, about three miles north of State Road 50 and a mile north of Brookridge. The station is on one of two of the company's existing corridors that run through Hernando.

A second substation, dubbed the "Brooksville West" facility, is located just south of S.R. 50 and is the terminus for the new lines.

Residents and the county commission have urged Progress to stick to the company's existing right-of-way when running new transmission lines. Progress officials have promised to do so whenever possible.

For the most part, it will be possible, the company says. The new 230- and 500-kilovolt transmission lines perched atop either single or double poles as tall as 175 feet - would largely follow the path of an existing 115-kilovolt line in Citrus and Hernando counties.

However, "In some limited areas of Hernando County, northwest of the Brokridge substation, the company may need to widen its existing right of way or purchase new rights of way," Friday's release states.

The impact on property ownerswill be minimal, Progress's chief executive maintains. "Because we're largely following the path of an existing transmission line, we will be able to minimize the impacts on the community and environment from the line than runs from the proposed Levy plant to the Brooksville West substation in Hernando County," Jeff Lyash, president and CEO of Progress EnergyFlorida, said in the release.

The company solicited input from the community in a first round of public meetings earlier this year. "We listened to that feedback," Lyash said. The company began mailing letters Friday to 6,000 residents within the preferred corridors in Levy, Citrus and Hernando countiesto notify them of the meeting, Horne said. The meeting will run from 4 to 7:30 p.m. at the Brooksville Elks Lodge, 14494 Cortez Blvd.

The informal open house format allows the public to come and go at any time. Progress staffers manning computers with satellite mapping technology will be on hand to answer questions. "This is the chance for the public to let us know what they're thinking and find out what this area looks like," Horne said. Progress wants to run some 200 miles of additional lines from the Levy plant to meet a burgeoning demand for electricity in the region.

Construction of the lines is planned to begin in 2012, with the plant expected to be in service in 2016. The project will require approval by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection and other agencies.

Information is available at:www.progress-energy.com/energyplanning , by e-mail to energyplanning @pgnmail.com, or by phone at 888-238-0373.

Reporter Tony Marrero can be reached at 352-544-5286 or lmarrero@hernandotoday.com.

Link to Story :::

Story


December 2 2008

Nuclear Power Plants: are they safe or not ?

Here is a link about the two meetings that were
held in Crystal River , Florida on December 4
2008 ::: Concerning the construction of 4 new
Nuclear Power Plants in Levy County , Florida .

Article

One of the things that this article
mentions is the fact that a draft of
the environmental impact statement will
be issued to the NRC in 2009.

After time for more public comment ,
the final environmental impact statement
will be issued in 2010 .
Following that , and a hearing about the
safety review , the NRC will then consider
the application to build.

I would urge all who are interested to
follow the precedings ( check back here ,
I will post updates ) , and get involved
when they hold public meetings .

The Ecology Party's opposition to these
four proposed new Nuclear Power Plants
in Levy County is documented for the
reasons given below.-

You can contact the Nuclear Regulatory Commission
at 1 800 368 5642 until December 23 ( 2008 ) with
your comments.

Further information on the Levy County project
can be found here ::

NRC - Levy County Project



To start , I would like to present three parts of a dialogue
on Nuclear Power Plants ; from ' Political Perspectives ' ;
hosted by Cynthia Dickstein .


Part One :





Part Two :





Part Three :





( Note :: this is a seven part discussion
the other parts can be found by visiting this link :

Link

Why do we, here at the Ecology Party believe that
there are better alternatives to the construction
of these proposed Nuclear Plants ?

1 ) Nuclear Plants are NOT the answer to global warming, and, in fact, make the problem worse.

2 ) There are routine releases of radiation into the air , water , and soil , and in no case can these Nuclear Plants be described as being ' emissions free ' .

3 ) These Nuclear Plants are a potential terrorist target. not only with a plane , or jet flying into a plant, but also with the increased threat of theft of enriched Uranium with the expansion and new construction of
Nuclear Plants.

4 ) Disposal of Nuclear Waste material - Each Nuclear Plant produces 20 - 30 tons of high level radioactive waste per year (plus low level radioactive waste streams). At present, there is no acceptable plan for disposal of this waste; - the latest plan calls for dumping nuclear rods, encased in concrete , into the ocean.

5 ) The exorbitant cost: Each plant , at present , costs approximately
$ 6 billion dollars to build . Congress is poised to award the Nuclear Industry a total of $ 50 billion dollars in new loans . When these plants default , ( which they invariably do - as these plants are not cost efficient operations ) the taxpayers will foot the bill .

6 ) We are just beginning to see new advances in technologies such as Solar , Wind , Geothermal , Biofuel ( although there is some debate on the
biofuel efficiency ) ; Water power , and energy generated from waste products , through the re-direction , and use of methane gas - which is a garbage waste product.

Ecology Party of Florida
641 SW 6th Avenue
Fort Lauderdale, Florida 33315

chair at ecologyparty dot org
888 462-2468