NC Fair Share ? Students United for a Responsible Global Environment (SURGE)
NC Council of Churches Climate Connection ? NC Waste Awareness & Reduction Network (NC WARN) 

NEWS RELEASE
2/14/06
Contact:   Jim Warren, NC WARN  
919-416-5077                                            

Groups to Hold Town Meetings on New Harris Reactors
“Grassroots Power & Light” Says Nukes Would Hamper Climate Change Measures

DURHAM, NC – A coalition of grassroots organizations said today it is planning town meetings near the Shearon Harris nuclear plant so the public can hear both the pros and cons about plans for new reactors.   Progress Energy will be encouraged to attend the meetings and explain its plans to expand the Harris plant, as announced last month.

Grassroots Power & Light, a coalition comprised of inter-campus groups, low-income advocates, inter-faith congregations and environmental watchdogs, formed last fall.   The groups believe that due to rapidly increasingclimate change, North Carolina cannot afford to pour many years and billions of public dollars toward a revival of nuclear power, but instead must begin reducing greenhouse gases now.

The coalition said the meetings will be both democratic and educational, where elected officials and the public can seek answers about the Harris plant from both Progress and those who argue that nuclear power is unsafe, uneconomical, and a losing approach to climate change.

Along with last month's announcement about expanding Harris, Progress Energy said it would hold local meetings over the expansion.   The GP&L coalition, however, said meetings must be conducted by public groups so that all sides can be heard, and meetings are not dominated by Progress' prodigious public relations and lobbying influence. A number of key facts about the Harris project are already in clear dispute.

“The debate over our energy future must be open and democratic,” explained Lynice Williams, head of NC Fair Share, a regional organization advocating for low-income and African-American communities and with a chapter in Holly Springs , one of the towns closest to Harris.   “The people most at risk from the current plant must have an avenue for accurate information and involvement in these vitally important decisions.”

Williams noted that Fair Share also has chapters in eastern North Carolina , a part of the state most impacted by changing weather patterns.   They therefore also have a stake in whether the state transitions to safe, economical power production, or leads a national nuclear revival.  The nuclear industry is using high-powered Washington PR firms to make the media and public believe nuclear power has an improving safety record, and produces no air pollution or greenhouse gases.   Various studies demonstrate that nuclear energy uses large amounts of fossil fuel in plant construction, production of fuel, and other life-cycle costs the industry implies do not exist.

Dennis Markatos, Executive Director of inter-campus organization SURGE, said today, “The decisions we make now really matter for all of us, and for the future of this region.”    SURGE leads a growing student-based movement – covering over 60 campuses in North Carolina alone – promoting the transition to efficient, renewable energy.   Markatos notes that other parts of the U.S. , and foreign countries, are handling growing energy demand without new hazardous power plants, and are creating economic gains by adopting efficiency and renewable energy technologies.

Alice Lloyd, Director of the Climate Connection, a project of the NC Council of Churches, said, “People of faith are increasingly aware of our important role in the energy decisions that affect our climate, and the health and security of all creatures.   We are eager to create the open debate needed to make North Carolina a model for other states so that we can reduce greenhouse gases, and move to clean, safe energy.”