From the News & Observer 2/4/99
Smear Claimed In Fuel Debate
Local leaders say they have been labeled 'anti-nuclear loonies' for questioning a CP&L storage proposal.
By JAY PRICE
CHAPEL HILL -- A group of local elected officials and an environmental organization said Wednesday that Carolina Power & Light Co. is waging a smear campaign in an effort to discredit scrutiny of the firm's proposal to store more high-level nuclear waste at its Shearon Harris plant.
Staff WriterDuring conversations with other local officials, CP&L and Duke Power Co. representatives have apparently called the leaders of the group -- including Orange County commissioners Alice Gordon and Margaret Brown -- and a consultant hired by Orange to study the waste proposal "anti-nuclear loonies" and "anti-nuclear hotheads," said Jim Warren of the N.C. Waste Awareness and Reduction Network, as the two commissioners and officials from Chatham County and Carrboro stood behind him.
Talk of a smear campaign also arose during an Orange commissioners' meeting Tuesday night, and Commissioner Stephen Halkiotis said it sounded like an effort to isolate Orange -- which led the push to hire a consultant -- from seven other governments that have approved resolutions calling for a public hearing on the waste proposal.
A spokesman for CP&L said that he hadn't heard of any name-calling, but that it wouldn't surprise him if company officials had described the consultant, Gordon Thompson of Cambridge, Mass., as biased.
"If someone passed along that information, they probably had a pretty good basis," said the spokesman, Mike Hughes. "I have yet to see evidence of a project he has undertaken involving a nuclear plant that he thought was a safe project."
The towns of Carrboro, Mebane, Sanford and Chapel Hill, and Chatham, Orange, Lee and Durham counties, have adopted resolutions asking for a public hearing as part of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's review process. Orange County has also set aside up to $18,000 to pay for Thompson's work, and Chapel Hill is expected to kick in another $5,000. Durham County also may contribute up to $5,000, depending on a committee recommendation.
The charges of a smear campaign arose during a news conference held by members of a steering committee representing the eight local governments. They called the conference to announce that they plan to go ahead with public discussions of the waste proposal, even though CP&L decided not to participate.
The group has been calling for more openness on the part of the utility and the NRC. It took another jab at the company for letting several elected officials tour the plant but not letting Thompson in while he's studying the issue, which he is doing in a rush to beat the NRC's Feb. 12 deadline for public comment.
"The question becomes, 'What do they have to hide?' " Warren said. "They seem quite happy to have lay people ask technical questions, but now that we've got scientists on board, they shut the door."
CP&L officials say that all the information Thompson needs is in the company's highly detailed application to the NRC and that they're committed to being open with the public about their proposal, which they say poses no new serious risks.
CP&L will hold an open house on the proposal from 7 to 10 p.m. today at the Shearon Harris visitor center. Scott Gardner, district manager for Duke Power, said he had been contacting local officials in Orange and Durham counties, not to paint anyone as an anti-nuclear extremist but to make it clear that there were two sides to the issue.
"All I've been saying to elected leaders is please be open to both sides of the spent-fuel issue," he said. "CP&L has a story to tell, too."
There wasn't anything sinister about Duke Power's involvement, he said. Traditionally, Duke and CP&L keep to their own service areas, hence his efforts to help the other company get information to officials on his turf.
Gardner said he didn't understand how the members of the steering committee could call for more information in one breath and then in the next condemn his efforts to give exactly that to elected officials.
Thompson is scheduled to give the Orange commissioners a report on his findings next Tuesday, in time for them to petition the NRC for more local participation in the review.
The steering committee hasn't decided how many public sessions it will hold, but it will have them regardless of whether any of the governments decide to petition the NRC, Warren said.