|
Tuesday, 13 February 2007 19:00 |
 By JIM GENARO
WOODFIN ó The controversy over a proposal by Progress Energy to build a new power plant in Woodfin intensified last week when two activists vandalized a billboard to protest the plan.
Micah Lee and Abigail Singer were arrested on charges of misdemeanor trespassing after they reportedly climbed atop a billboard along U.S. 19-23/Future I-26 about 7:30 a.m. Feb. 6 and hung a sign saying, ìBURNING OIL AINíT PROGRESS ó NO NEW WOODFIN POWER PLANT.î
The
defaced billboard advertised The Cliffs, a gated Black Mountain
development that has also drawn the ire of environmental groups. After
three hours atop the billboard, the pair were removed by Asheville
police officers.
Lee and Singer reportedly are members of Rising Tide North America,
part of an international environmental organization devoted to direct
action to combat global warming.
In a press release sent out by the group on the day of the protest, a
spokesperson said that the plant ìis projected to emit 247 tons of
smog-forming nitrogen oxide, 2.4 tons of sulfur dioxide and 97 tons of
lung damaging particulate matter each year. This would put Progressí
plant among the top five polluters in Buncombe County.î
The proposed low-sulphur diesel burning plant in Woodfin would
supplement the countyís power supply by generating electricity during
periods of peak use.
Currently, Progress buys energy from outside the state during peak hours, but its contract to do so is set to expire in 2009.
The Buncombe County Board of Commissioners approved the new plant at
its Jan. 16 meeting, granting Progress a 50-year lease for the 79-acre
former landfill site at a rate of $1 per year. Progress says it plans
to open the plant in 2009.
Progress officials say that it will only be in use about ten percent of
the time and that emissions from the new plant will be less than the
total reduction in emissions that have resulted from improvements made
to Progressí Skyland power station in the past year.
However, the proposal has drawn criticism from many residents over
concerns that it will contribute to global warming and to Western North
Carolinaís already high levels of air pollution.
The problem will be exacerbated, some say, by the liklihood that the
plant will most often run during the summer, when air conditioners
place heavy demands on power ó and air pollution is at its worst.
During the Buncombe commissionersí meeting where the plan was approved,
more than 100 people attended and most of the speakers during the
public comment portion expressed strong objections to it.
Furthermore, two environmental groups have accused the county of
violating state laws by negotiating the deal for the land in secret.
The Canary Coalition and Mountain Voices Alliance charge that the
closed meetings between commissioners and representatives of Progress
may have violated ìsunshine laws,î which regulate the degree of
transparency that government agencies must engage in during such
negotiations. Those meetings have been going on for two years, but the
public only learned of the proposal in December.
In a press release, the two groups said that they were requesting
official documents petaining to the meetings as what ìcould be the
first step toward litigation against the county to invalidate its Jan.
16 decision.î
County officials have denied any wrongdoing, saying that because a
quorum of the commissioners was never present during the meetings, the
closed proceedings were legitimate.
|
