Duke Energies is currently obtaining necessary permits for construction of a coal-fired power plant in southwestern North Carolina counties Cleveland and Rutherford. Having been born and raised in the small textile community of Cliffside, North Carolina, in which since around 1922, Duke Power plant has been located, I know that this will cause major environmental problems and continue our reliance on fossil fuels. This will result in more miners being killed in coal mining accidents in order to meet the demands of coal fired power units, the railroads and trucking industries tranferring the coal will add to the pollution and fossil fuel usage, and respiratory health problems will continue to be rampart in this area. I would like to see some study done on the people and the effects the power plant has created on the communities affected since thier process began. The first proposal for a new addition to the power plant was to construct a nuclear plant; that idea was soon aborted and changed to constructing another coal-fired unit. What more can we citizens do to convince the local buiness people and ,for some reason, the politicians (who are promoting an economic benefit-not drawing the picture that when the construction -four years- is finished, the construction jobs end, only leaving a proposed twenty employees at the power plant) of the negative effects such construction will cause environmentally and economically?
Duke Energy is also still pursuing the construction of nuclear reactors in the state as well. One 'possible' site is only about 20 miles or so from my house. They've revived this again - it was originally started years ago, and citizen outcry apparently only postponed it a bit. They already own the land and last I heard they were clearing a road. It WAS a pretty spot in a bend on the river.
And they're still apparently moving forward with a military runway for "training purposes" in the protected wetlands at the coast. The effects on the wildlife will be significant, not to mention the fact that birds being sucked into jet engines could be somewhat detrimental to the health of the pilots.
Of course, at the current rate of global warming, those fragile wetlands, and the runways, will both be underwater soon.
Way to go, NC!! :mad: