SACE FL nuclear advisory teleconference
… October 14, 2009 Florida News Advisory …
EXPERTS TO WARN OF HIGHER UTILITY COSTS FOR FLORIDA CONSUMERS AND SERIOUS RISKS FOR FPL AND PROGRESS ENERGY UNDER PSC STAFF RECOMMENDATIONS
More Nuclear Reactors for Florida Seen as “Betting the Farm” Both in Terms of Consumer Pocketbooks and Utilities’ Fiscal Health; PSC Staff Endorsement of Progress, FPL Plans Ignored All Consumer Input.
TALLAHASSEE, FL./// NEWS ADVISORY///The Florida Public Service Commission (PSC) will be urged during a 11:30 a.m. EDT phone-based news conference on October 14, 2009 to reject its staff recommendations that would allow FPL and Progress Energy to charge their customers in advance to pay for building unlicensed nuclear reactors. The Commission is expected to vote Friday on the staff recommendations, which were issued last week.
Mark Cooper, senior fellow for economic analysis at the Institute for Energy and the Environment at Vermont Law School will present a new Florida-specific analysis showing that Progress and FPL are “betting the farm” on new reactors by gambling on overpriced, excess capacity that could turn out to be an economic disaster for the companies and the Florida ratepayers who would be left holding the bag. Cooper provided testimony during the PSC proceedings on the new reactors.
Southern Alliance for Clean Energy (SACE) Program Director, Sara Barczak, will outline the organization’s strong objections to the anti-consumer PSC staff recommendations, which would allow Progress to collect more than $200 million dollars from consumers to pay for new reactor construction – before a single kilowatt of power has been produced.
Cooper and Barczak will be joined by former Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) member Peter Bradford, an adjunct professor at Vermont Law School. He also has served as chair of the New York and Maine utility commissions, and advised many states on utility restructuring issues. Bradford also testified in the early cost recovery case before the FL PSC for one of Progress Energy’s largest industrial users.
TO PARTICIPATE: You can join this live, phone-based news conference (with full, two-way Q&A) at 11:30 a.m. EDT on October 14, 2009 by dialing 1 (800) 860-2442. Ask for the “Florida Nuclear Power Risk” news event.
CAN’T PARTICIPATE?: A streaming audio replay of the news event will be available on the Web at http://www.cleanenergy.org as of 4 p.m. EDT on October 14, 2009.
CONTACT: Leslie Anderson, (703) 276-3256 or landerson@hastingsgroup.com.
Southern Alliance for Clean Energy (SACE) promotes responsible energy choices that create global warming solutions and ensure clean, safe and healthy communities throughout the Southeast. Founded in 1985, SACE is the only regional organization primarily focused on developing clean energy solutions throughout the Southeast.