Top 2012 stories: 3-2

Top 2012 stories: 3-2

Posted: Sunday, December 30, 2012 7:24 pm

Staff Reportsthedailysentinel.com

The Daily Sentinel's Top 10 countdown of 2012's top news stories begins today and will run daily through Tuesday, Jan. 1.

• No. 4: Problems at Pisgah School - Pisgah High School remained in the news most of the year. Depending on what side of the fence you were on, it was either problems at the school or simply politics in an election year.

In July, the Alabama Building Commission ordered hat renovations to Cooley Gymnasium at Pisgah High School be stopped immediately.

"Our records indicate that the project has not been submitted to or approved by the Building Commission and the building is undergoing a major renovation," Katherine Lynn, Director of the ABC Technical Staff wrote in the letter dated June 8, 2012 to Ken Harding, Superintendent of Jackson County Schools. "No work shall take place on this project until the plans have been properly prepared by a full professional team, the plans have been submitted and approved for compliance with the State Building Code and the Director notifies the Owner that work may resume."

Lynn said that before a project begins it is to be presented to the Building Commission with detailed plans prepared by professionals. The plans must be approved in compliance with all regulations and a regional building inspector must review the project, meet with the building overseer, contractors, subcontractors and the inspector during a pre-construction conference to discuss procedures that must be followed.

"This allows all of the people involved in the construction to be on the same page," Lynn said. "However, no meeting was held on the Pisgah High School Gymnasium job because no plans were turned in to our office."

Lynn wrote, "The Code of Alabama, Title 41, Section 41-9-163, states that 'it shall be unlawful for any state building or construction...which does not conform to the requirements of the building code to be erected or acquired.'"

John Vandiver, a building specialist with the ABC, discovered that work was underway during a routine visit to check on an approved lighting project at the school.

"When I arrived at the school to inspect for lighting upgrades, I noticed some heavy remodeling was taking place that I thought exceeded the state bid law," said Vandiver. "Any time that level of work is being done, plans must be sent to the building commission for review to insure all areas are following the proper requirements."

Throughout the summer and fall, leading to the election, there was the matter of is there or not bats at the school?

"It's possible that there might be bats in Pisgah School, but there have probably always been bats in Pisgah School," said Superintendent Ken Harding. "What we've done is contacted the people we needed to contact to investigate the problem and we are going from there."

Harding added that he hadn't seen a bat in the school.

"There could be bats in the school just like there could be rats or snakes," Harding said.

Winfred Cotten, environmental supervisor of Jackson County Health Department, said concerns about a possible bat infestation at Pisgah High School, started in January.

Cotten said the Jackson County Health Department has received numerous calls from parents and local citizens about the bat problem, which has been looked into thoroughly.

"We've made steps in tracking down the bats and have had the state department of Health here to help us investigate the problem," said Cotten.

Cotten said tornadoes during the month of April 2011 caused roofs at several buildings on the Pisgah High School campus to be damaged. As a result, Cotten said bats created nests in the school.

"At that time a certified bat removal company in Alabama was contacted to assist in the problem," said Cotten. "This has been a very effective process and almost all of the bats have been eliminated."

The issues, Cotten said, is nothing to be of concern about. And the school will have an overall air quality test completed to check for Histoplasmosis.

"The last case of Histoplasmosis was found in Woodville many years ago and had no correlation to Pisgah at the time," he said.

Alabama State Veterinarian Dr. Dee Jones said any type of a situation involving bats develops both Histoplasmosis and rabies.

"It's my understanding that teachers have been reminded and educated on how to avoid contracting rabies from a bat if they should see one," said Jones. "To our knowledge there is no reason to think that there is any concern beyond what people have suspected about this particular case."

No. 3: Bellefonte delayed again: Tennessee Valley Authority officials, in April, confirmed that construction of one reactor at the Bellefonte Nuclear Power Plant near Hollywood would be delayed yet again.

"Yes, we have confidence on our future projects," TVA president and CEO Tom Kilgore said during a press conference moments after he addressed TVA employees and media during a meeting at the utility's Watts Bar Nuclear Plant in Spring City, Tenn. to address problems encountered during the construction process. "We'll relook at everything. We can't start Bellefonte construction until we finish this one."

Mike Skaggs, TVA senior vice president for Nuclear Construction announced a new construction schedule and cost estimate for completion of the Unit 2 reactor at Watts Bar. It affects the timeline for work at Bellefonte and, at best, pushes the project back several years.

The Watts Bar project, approved in 2007 by the TVA Board of Directors, is behind schedule and over budget. The board will be asked during its April 26 meeting in Greeneville, Tenn. to approve extending the construction time on the project and continued funding.

"The emerging estimate to complete Watts Bar Unit 2 will require additional funding of $1.5 to $2 billion, putting the total estimated cost of completion in the range of $4 billion to $4.5 billion," Skaggs said. "The estimated time to complete is between September and December 2015."

Dr. Stephen A. Smith, executive director of the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy, said TVA's process was flawed and called it "simply unacceptable."

He said it was "yet another chapter in TVA's long history of dramatic delays and nuclear cost overruns. Someone needs to be held accountable for this $2 billion mistake."

Skaggs confirmed that the delays at Watts Bar would push the Bellefonte project farther into the future while Kilgore said that economic conditions would also be a factor in the timeline.

In approving a recommendation to complete one reactor at Bellefonte, the TVA board in Aug. 2011 stipulated that construction could not begin at the plant until fuel is loaded at Watts Bar.