Nuclear
power plants touted
Aug 24 -
McClatchy-Tribune Regional News - Peter Frost Daily Press, Newport News , Va.
A
federal energy bill that has passed through the U.S. House and awaits a vote in
the Senate could have a devastating effect on power companies and result in
rising electric costs for consumers, a panel of Southern utility officials told
11 Southern governors Sunday.
Should
the provision survive in the final version of the bill, consumers likely would
see a steep rise in their monthly bills in coming years, three Southern utility
chief executives and a university professor told the governors, gathered at Kingsmill Resort for a three-day annual meeting of the
Southern Governors' Association.
"Many
of our states have no chance to generate consistent wind and solar power,"
said Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour. The House-passed energy bill, named the
American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009, "just screws us."
While
Southern governors expressed hope of expanding the amount of nuclear power
production -- a method of generation that produces low carbon emissions --
nuclear isn't considered a renewable source in the legislation.
Gov.
Timothy M. Kaine, 2009 chairman of the Southern
Governors' Association, said the bill's omission of credit or incentives for
nuclear power plant expansion "is obviously problematic."
"We
should be focusing on low-emission energy sources and not be too careful about
the way we define 'renewable,'" Kaine said.
One
of the bill's key components is reducing domestic carbon emissions 80 percent
by 2050, a goal the governors and utilities endorsed.
For
the country to meet that goal, nuclear must be a significant
component, Kaine said.
The
outgoing governor, who tailored most of this year's meetings on addressing
energy and climate-change issues, said the debate about energy policy will
rival health care in terms of public interest.
When
he campaigned for governor five years ago, Kaine said
he received one question about energy issues.
"In
that amount of time, you've now got utility execs agreeing that we need to
reduce our carbon footprint," Kaine said.
"That
tells you there's been a tremendous change in public opinion," he said.
Jay
Apt, executive director of
"The
federal government does not have a good record of picking a technology,"
he said.
James
E. Rogers, president and CEO of Duke Energy, and David Ratcliffe,
president and CEO of Southern Co., were among the panel's most outspoken
critics of the legislation.
Along
with AGL Resources CEO John W. Somerhalder and
Dominion Virginia Power CEO Paul D. Koonce, they
lobbied the governors to loosen state regulations and work with federal lawmakers
to streamline the process of building new power plants and energy
infrastructure.
Ratcliffe criticized
the bill for attempting to move too quickly on reducing emissions without
taking into consideration costs, which eventually will be passed to consumers.
"It's
going to take 50 years to make this transition, and we've got 50 years to do
this, in my estimation," he said. "We need to first worry about how
to protect consumers."
Northrop
Grumman Shipbuilding President C. Michael Petters,
whose company is the largest private manufacturing employer in three Southern
states --
"You've
got to have someone out there to build it," Petters
said.
Northrop,
which recently entered into a partnership with French nuclear giant AREVA, will
begin producing large components for nuclear power plants in
The
primary reason AREVA chose to work with Northrop, Petters
said, was its skilled work force.
As
utilities invest in new power-generation technologies, they need to "ramp
the investment in the work force that's going to go out and produce this."
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