News

November 22, 2007

PPL touts public support for reactor

Company that runs two nuke generators near Berwick in Salem Township wants to add another.

More often than not, energy companies must contend with residents who sometimes grind projects to a halt. Called NIMBY, which stands for “Not in My Backyard,” such local opposition stopped a wind park in Bear Creek, an ethanol plant in Wright Township and is working against that same ethanol plant in Mayfield, Lackawanna County.

But far from opposition, Allentown-based PPL Corp. is finding that some residents near its Susquehanna nuclear plant in Salem Township actually favor the station adding a third reactor, so much so that they’re willing to appear in the company’s advertising.

PPL is banking on that support to attract stock investors by running ads in financial publications depicting the residents.

The idea formulated after Lou Ramos, a spokesman for the Susquehanna plant, asked Valarie Anderson, the executive director of the Berwick Area Chamber of Commerce, what she thought of adding the third unit. The plant currently has two reactors, but the company is considering applying to build another.

“If I didn’t believe in the safety of the power plant, I certainly wouldn’t raise my children here,” Anderson told Ramos, who asked her to get her husband’s opinion.

He, too, was in favor, and that gave Ramos an idea.

“We actually offered to the corporation the opportunity to use some key community leaders as the live folks in support of the third reactor,” he said. “It’s not perfect, but we have a pretty good, solid following for PPL Susquehanna.”

The ad, which includes Anderson’s family, Berwick Mayor Lou Biacchi and other locals, touts “solid operating performance turns into solid financial performance … when NIMBYs turn IMBYs.” It ran in The Wall Street Journal on Nov. 12 and this week’s edition of Barron’s financial magazine. It’s scheduled to run in Barron’s again on Dec. 10.

Despites its efforts, PPL is not free of criticism. Ramos conceded that residents are often concerned about radioactive spent fuel being kept at the site, and activists against the industry have attempted to block its expansion plans.

“I think PPL has been more proactive than other utilities,” said Eric Epstein, who heads Harrisburg-based Three Mile Island Alert. “But there’s always room for improvement,”

Besides Anderson and Biacchi, residents were chosen from a list of about 200 who attended a casting call. All conformed to a few requirements, such as being PPL customers, living locally and supporting the plant. All were paid an “honorarium,” according to Ramos, to compensate for the “personal time they devoted to participating in the photo shoot,” but he declined to provide a number.

He said the ad is intended to persuade investors that community support begets prosperity, making PPL “a wise investment.”

“Building a third unit, one of the key things is you need to have community support. … We’ve already done that, and our investment community ought to know that’s a fact,” he said. “Without it, I think you’re going to have a very, very long road. … If the community is absolutely opposed, what’s the sense?”

Anderson said she supported the construction because “it would generate a lot of local dollars in the economy” by bringing in mobile contractors, followed by permanent workers for the new reactor.

“I remember just the influx of families” when the plant’s first reactor went online in 1983, said the Berwick native. “You know, it was just good for the whole region. I’m hopeful that will happen again.”

She said the company provides tax revenue for various municipalities and grant money for local institutions, such as the school district.

“There’s always questions,” she conceded, but said the company is responsive, honest and informative. “The fact of the matter is that they closely monitor everything at the power facility, and I don’t believe there is any threat at all.”

Rory Sweeney, a Times Leader staff writer, may be reached at 970-7418.

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