Citizens Against Perkins .org
A local
citizen organization opposed to the
Perkins Nuclear Reactors
on the Yadkin River
in
Davie County, NC
Citizens Against Perkins .org A local
citizen organization opposed to the |
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November 17, 2005
Letter to the editor:
Why does Duke Energy (Duke Power) want to build three nuclear reactors with nine cooling towers on the Yadkin River, right here in Davie County?
Is it because of the roughly $13 billion of extra subsidies just approved by congress? Perhaps the 80% loan guarantees (if funded), about $3 billion in R&D incentives, 50% licensing-cost subsidies, $2 billion of insurance against legal regulatory delays could be better spent on less expensive ways to reduce consumption or on less expensive alternative power generation. What about the $1.3 billion more to assist in decommissioning the reactors after they become too weak and radioactive to use?
Is this “aid” required for the free enterprise system to work? In this day of federal budget imbalance and cuts, this give-away program seems a bit out of line. Are these business tax give-away programs “needed” since reactors are too costly for private insurance companies to insure? Why should our government limit the liability of for profit private power companies? What about nuclear radiation? What about accidents? What about nuclear waste, including on-site storage? What about the risk of a terrorist attack? By the way, have you checked your homeowner’s insurance policy for coverage against nuclear radiation?
What about the amount of water, from our Yadkin River, which will be used in the nine cooling towers (this is three time the size of Three Mile Island)? What will happen to the air downwind of the reactors? The winds blow out of the SW for 9-10 months out of the year, so this will mostly go to the Winston-Salem and Greensboro area. Will there be enough water in the Yadkin River for the hundreds of thousands of people who live downstream from the Perkins site and rely on the Yadkin for their drinking water? Will there even be enough water to safely cool the reactors?
Telephone surveys were done earlier this year (long before the 2005 Energy Bill even on the table for the public to see) to find out what we, as a community could be bribed with to take these reactors in our community. Were there closed door “informational meetings” with a free dinner and extra incentives for community leaders during the past months? Have new roads been paved at the Perkins site recently? Did Duke hire any local companies or labor to work on these roads, or were the work crews from Charlotte? Perhaps they didn’t want us to know what they are up to until it is too late.
Are you beginning to wonder what is wrong with this picture?
Is this because we need more electricity? Well, not exactly. What we, as consumers of electricity need is for the electricity to do the jobs we need done. We need lights in our homes. We need refrigerators to keep our food cold. We need our homes to be warm in the winter and cool in the summer. We need our manufacturing plants to make the products we all use. Do you get the idea?
Have you wondered what would happen if we the taxpayers stopped giving away the bank (and I mean your dollars) to these already profitable private companies? In a free enterprise capitalist market place, market forces of supply and demand would be permitted to work.
Less costly forms of power utilization would rise to the top. We Americans are smart and we are already solving our energy needs. Micro-power is already growing so fast that it is exceeding nuclear power. Industries are using co-generating of electricity as it is often an easy byproduct of their manufacturing processes. This growth in alternative power is despite the fact that decentralized competitive (wind, photo-voltaic, solar – both passive and active) received only 1/24 th of what the nuclear industry receives in US federal subsidies.
Electric efficiencies are not even tracked so it is hard to know how much electricity is not used to create the same comfort level in our lives. Good design of houses and businesses with good insulation, and efficient appliances all play a roll in having even more comfortable lives
What can we all do to have a higher quality of life with less expense? Can we better insulate our homes? Can we use energy efficient lighting – compact fluorescent lamps, select energy efficient appliances? Can we utilize passive solar design in new housing?
How can Duke Energy help us to use the most cost efficient energy sources, including reducing the energy load through conservation. This starts with helping homeowners to purchase more efficient appliances. They could help industries and homeowners to insulate their businesses and homes. Aid to businesses with more efficient manufacturing processes would be very cost-effective.
Why should Duke Power want to do this? The reduction in electric consumption could be good for Duke Energy, their stockholders (and I include myself in this category) and for its customers. If the electric rate fee schedule were linked to the decreasing use of electricity, the NC Utilities Commission could reward the power companies with an increase in the rate they charge their customers. They would make more money while producing less electricity. They further benefit by not needing additional, and expensive, new generating capacity.
We, the consumers of electricity would have, on net, lower power bills since we are consuming less of the more expensive electricity. Even with the payments for the new appliances and insulation, your power bill goes down. Nuclear power has proven to be far more expensive to the consumer than estimated. This is despite the liability subsidies provided by our government.
Think what we, the taxpayers, could do to reduce our energy consumption if we had the windfall incentives which are in this tax give-away program to the private power industry.
In summary, consumers get a lower electric bill, the utilities make more money for their stockholders and we don’t need additional nuclear power plants.
Can you say “Win-Win”?
But until Duke Energy wants a sound financial and environmental solution, we must say “No-no, No more nuclear!”
Sincerely,
Marshall E. Tyler
Davie Environmental Awareness League (DEAL), spokesperson
Duke Energy, stockholder
MocksvillePs: Clean Water for NC is holding a free, public meeting this Saturday, November 19 th at 1:30 in the meeting room upstairs at Langley’s, 101 N. Main St. Mocksville. For more information about the meeting visit www.CitizensAgainstPerkins.org and www.CWFNC.org
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