{"id":113,"date":"2013-02-14T11:07:33","date_gmt":"2013-02-14T16:07:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/2013\/02\/renewable-energy-much-needed-in-georgia-john-s-quarterman.html"},"modified":"2013-02-14T11:07:33","modified_gmt":"2013-02-14T16:07:33","slug":"renewable-energy-much-needed-in-georgia-john-s-quarterman","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/2013\/02\/renewable-energy-much-needed-in-georgia-john-s-quarterman.html","title":{"rendered":"Renewable energy much needed in Georgia —John S. Quarterman"},"content":{"rendered":"

\nMy op-ed in the VDT today; I’ve added links, plus some more after the op-ed.\n<\/p>\n

\n

\n
\n<\/a>
\nFinally! Kewaunee, Calvert Cliffs, and now Crystal River
\npermanently closing say it’s time for Georgia to stop wasting money
\non Southern Company’s already over-budget and increasingly-late
\nnukes and get on with solar power and wind off the coast: for
\njobs, for energy independence, and for clean air and plenty of
\nclean water.\n<\/p>\n

\n
\nFebruary 2013:\n<\/dt>\n
\n
\nDuke Energy is closing<\/a> the Crystal River nuclear
\nreactor
\n
\n(Tampa Bay Times, 6 Feb 2013)<\/a>,
\n160 miles south of us, because
\n
\nnobody wants to pay to fix it<\/a>:
\nbetween “$1.5 billion and $3.4 billion,
\nplus what it costs to buy power to replace
\nwhat Crystal River would have produced while it is
\nbeing repaired”
\n
\n[Charlotte Business Journal, 11 Jan 2013]<\/a>.\n<\/dd>\n
\nNovember 2012:<\/dt>\n
\n
\nNRC terminated<\/a> Maryland’s Calvert Cliffs 3
\n
\n(NRC 1 Nov 2012)<\/a>
\nafter
\n
\nConstellation Energy dropped out<\/a> because the cost “is too high
\nand creates too much risk for Constellation”
\n
\n[Bloomberg 10 Oct 2010]<\/a>.\n<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n<\/blockquote>\n

<\/p>\n

\n
\n
\nOctober 2012:<\/dt>\n
\n
\nDominion Power decided to close<\/a>
\nWisconsin’s
\nKewaunee reactor
\n
\n(Dominion Power PR 22 Oct 2012)<\/a>
\nas not economically viable with no buyer
\n
\n(JSOnline 30 Oct 2012)<\/a>.\n<\/dd>\n
\nJanuary 2012:<\/dt>\n
leaks shut down California’s<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\nGoogle already deployed
\n2 gigawatts of wind and solar power
\nfor $1 billion:
\nalmost as much as
\nVogtle 3 and 4’s projected 2.2 GW,
\nfor less than Georgia Power customers have already paid.\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

San Onofre 3 and 4 in
\n
\n(NRC 31 Jan 2012)<\/a>
\nand
\n
\ntheir owners want the NRC to let them reopen Unit 4<\/a>
\nas an experiment while refusing to show the public
\nany evidence that that would be safe
\n
\n(NRC 18 Dec 2012)<\/a>.
\n[Actually San Onofre 2 and 3 shut down, and it’s Unit 2 they want to reopen;
\nmy error. -jsq]\n<\/dd>\n

\nJune 2009:<\/dt>\n
\n
\nMoody’s called nuclear<\/a> a
\n
\n“bet-the-farm risk”<\/a>,
\nand it’s our farms and houses and businesses the legislature is betting.\n<\/dd>\n
\nApril 2009:<\/dt>\n
\n
\nGeorgia’s SB 31
\n“Energy Rate Increases to Finance Nuclear Power Plant Construction”<\/a>
\n
\nauthorized Georgia Power to charge customers for power nobody
\nis getting<\/a> from Vogtle 3 and 4,
\n
\n$1.7 billion so far (Kristi Swartz, AJC, 1 Nov 2012)<\/a>,
\nplus
\n
\nabout a billion over budget and at least 15 months behind<\/a>
\nschedule
\n
\n(GPB 18 Dec 2012)<\/a>,
\nwith
\nconcrete pouring errors
\n
\n(Aiken Leader 14 Jan 2013)<\/a>
\nmuch like
\n
\nthose that ended<\/a> Crystal River
\n
\n(NRC 10 Oct 2012)<\/a>.\n<\/dd>\n
\n1987:<\/dt>\n
\n
\nVogtle 1 and 2 cost 26 times<\/a>
\nthe original estimate
\n
\n(Kristi Swartz, AJC, 30 Jan 2012)<\/a>.\n<\/dd>\n
\nNow:<\/dt>\n
\nIt’s time for the legislature to revoke SB 31, and to pass
\n
\n2013’s GA SB 51, “The Georgia Cogeneration and Distributed Generation Act”<\/a>,
\nwhich will enable financing for rooftop solar for jobs and
\nlower electric bills throughout Georgia.\n<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n

\nAnd
\n
\nit’s time for Gov. Deal to get on board<\/a> with ten other
\nAtlantic state governors for wind power off the coast
\n
\n(DOI 8 June 2010)<\/a>.\n<\/p>\n

\nGoogle already deployed
\n2 gigawatts of wind and solar power
\nfor $1 billion
\n
\n(David Goldman, CNNMoney 10 Jan 2013)<\/a>:
\nalmost as much as
\n
\nVogtle 3 and 4’s projected 2.2 GW,
\nfor less than Georgia Power customers have already paid<\/a>.
\nLet’s get on with real 21st century renewable energy:
\nconservation, efficiency, and wind and solar power, for jobs,
\nhealth, air and water!\n<\/p>\n

\nJohn S. Quarterman Lowndes County<\/strong>\n<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\nSince then
\n
\nHB 267<\/a> to stop Georgia Power from charging customers for Plant Vogtle
\ncost overruns
\nhas been proposed in the Georgia General Assembly,
\nand it turns out reactors closing for financial reasons goes back to
\n
\nMaine Yankee in 1997 and even before.<\/a>
\nThat (plus Kewaunee and Crystal River)
\n
\nbodes well for<\/a>
\nSan Onofre 2 staying closed permanently,
\nalthough
\nMaine Yankee may close first,<\/a>
\nand
\n
\nEntergy can’t keep Pilgrim Station up in a snowstorm<\/a>,
\nnot to mention Entergy can’t keep the lights on during the SuperBowl.\n<\/p>\n

\nHow about we stop shovelling money into nukes and spend it on dependable
\nsolar and wind power instead?\n<\/p>\n

\n-jsq<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

My op-ed in the VDT today; I’ve added links, plus some more after the op-ed. Finally! Kewaunee, Calvert Cliffs, and now Crystal River permanently closing say it’s time for Georgia to stop wasting money on Southern Company’s already over-budget and increasingly-late nukes and get on with solar power and wind off the coast: for jobs, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[97,202,556,40,142,14,264,265,16,70,203,8,18,2,19,20,104,21,22,32,23,24,53,133,55,36],"tags":[8736,8750,8779,634,391,339,630,8717,635,631,437,8746,636,628,143,8704,8754,8755,8706,8728,8751,8701,8708,639,8699,8709,638,627,8702,8710,12,7,632,390,117,8737,633,8711,8712,8715,8713,637,8766,388,400,108,8725,6,8742,626,8727,8716,629],"class_list":["post-113","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-activism","category-agriculture","category-air","category-community","category-cwip","category-economy","category-energy-conservation","category-energy-efficiency","category-environment","category-ethics","category-florida","category-georgia","category-georgia-power","category-government","category-history","category-law","category-nuclear","category-planning","category-politics","category-pollution","category-renewable-energy","category-solar","category-sustainability","category-vdt","category-water","category-wind","tag-activism","tag-agriculture","tag-air","tag-behind-schedule","tag-bet-the-farm","tag-california","tag-calvert-cliffs","tag-community","tag-concrete","tag-constellation-energy","tag-cost-overrun","tag-cwip","tag-distributed-energy","tag-dominion","tag-duke-energy","tag-economy","tag-energy-conservation","tag-energy-efficiency","tag-environment","tag-ethics","tag-florida","tag-georgia","tag-georgia-power","tag-google","tag-government","tag-history","tag-housetop","tag-kewaunee","tag-lake","tag-law","tag-lowndes-area-knowledge-exchange","tag-lowndes-county","tag-maryland","tag-moodys","tag-nrc","tag-nuclear","tag-over-budget","tag-planning","tag-politics","tag-pollution","tag-renewable-energy","tag-rooftop","tag-san-onofre","tag-sb-31","tag-sb-51","tag-southern-company","tag-sustainability","tag-valdosta","tag-vdt","tag-vogtle","tag-water","tag-wind","tag-wisconsin"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/113","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=113"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/113\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4985,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/113\/revisions\/4985"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=113"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=113"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=113"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}