C M Y K A9
DAILY 03-02-10 MD SU A9 CMYK
NO
K S TUESDAY, MARCH 2, 2010 A9
Utilities seek aid from
states for nuclear projects
nuclear from A1 said.)
In Florida, Progress Energy
sorts of preferential treatment. and FPL have won approval from
They still require loan guarantees state regulators to pass along
because the smart money won’t about $360 million in costs asso-
touch them.” ciated with new nuclear power
“Nuclear power is very impor- units northeast of St. Petersburg.
tant,” says John W. McWhirter, Progress Energy says it has al-
who represents the Florida Indus- ready collected $196.6 million
trial Power Users Group. “We just from customers, a third of its to-
wish consumers could be protect- tal expenditures so far.
ed.” But the Florida utilities have
The reaction of big businesses, not yet obtained permits they
as well as other consumers, has need from the Nuclear Regulato-
turned states that were bastions ry Commission, so while some
of support for nuclear power into site preparation has taken place,
RAJESH KUMAR SINGH/ASSOCIATED PRESS ANUPAM NATH/ASSOCIATED PRESS
hazardous territory. And it could construction hasn’t even started.
thwart the Obama administra- The utilities’ gains are the con-
The colors of spring
tion’s efforts to jump-start nu- sumers’ losses — and businesses
clear reactor construction by such as the Georgia Industrial
handing out chunks of the Group and the Georgia Textile
The annual celebration of Holi, or Festival of Colors, is observed by Hindus, Buddhists, Sikhs and
$18.5 billion in federal loan guar- Manufacturing Association have
antees Congress authorized in joined consumer and environ-
others to herald the coming of spring. Those who take part dance and throw colored powder and water
2005. mental groups in combating the
on one another as they honor the triumph of good over evil and renew relationships. The festival draws
state laws and higher rates.
Turning to the states
In Florida, PCS Phosphate,
ANUPAM NATH/ASSOCIATED PRESS much attention throughout India, including in Gauhati, far right and center, and Allahabad.
Thirty to 40 years ago, expen- which has a fertilizer plant that
sive nuclear plants drove some uses about 1 percent of Progress
utilities into bankruptcy. That has Energy’s output, told the Public
made banks gun-shy about lend- Service Commission that new
ould be immune from war-crimes lawsuit
ing and investors wary about buy- rate increases “will substantially
ing bonds. Moreover, the new affect” the company “by directly
plants are so expensive that a sin- increasing the cost of power.”
gle unit could equal a quarter to “Certainly coming on top of the
100 percent of the market capital- recession, it is badly timed,” said
fleeing that conflict poured into don’t know where they live, their Building a new life 1986 to 1988, says he has been ization of an entire utility com- James W. “Jay” Brew, attorney for
Somalia’s north, the clan living in names,” says Deria, now a U.S. cit- Samantar barely escaped So- puzzled why Samantar, of all So- pany, potentially damaging the PCS Phosphate, a unit of Potash
that region, the Isaaq, responded izen and commodities broker in malia with his life in 1991. Armed mali officials of that era, is the utility’s credit rating. Corp. “It’s asking a lot of current
to the influx and what they Portland, Ore. “What I know is bandits, he said, shot his young one being sued. Real power, he That’s why utilities turned to customers to fund that large a
viewed as harsh government pol- that Mr. Samantar . . . was in daughter in the back four times says, was concentrated in Presi- the states, lobbying in recent capital expense up front.”
icies. With help from Ethiopia, charge of what was happening. If and his 15-year-old son in the legs dent Siad Barre and a small group years for the ability to charge cus-
the Isaaq began an armed rebel- I know the big fish and I know as they raced to the border. A bul- of his clan members. tomers while construction is in
Worth the wait?
lion. where he lives, why go after the let grazed the back of Samantar’s “Samantar was so far out of the progress. “Without this legisla- Progress Energy says that over
Members of the Isaaq clan, small ones?” skull. He lived in Rome with three decision-making loop,” Rawson tion, we would not be considering time, companies such as PCS
such as Bashe Yousuf, one of Sa- Samantar makes no apologies of his children until 1997, when says. “But Samantar comes from a building new nuclear generation Phosphate will be better off. “It
mantar’s five accusers, see him as for the army and its conduct dur- his wife, who had come to the small clan. There’s no political in Florida,” Grant said. lowers the overall costs of a nu-
the last remnant of a regime bent ing the civil war. “The people United States earlier with their cost to going after someone vul- The savings for the utilities are clear power plant to customers by
on destroying not only the rebels bringing these allegations were, four youngest children and then nerable like that, as opposed to huge because they have to borrow several billion dollars,” the com-
but the entire clan. by their own admission, part of a received political asylum, spon- going after someone who comes less money. Southern Co. said the pany said in a statement. “Paying
Yousuf and the others say that movement that came as invaders sored him. from a significant family or im- law passed in 2000 will help its these costs in advance signifi-
even though Samantar didn’t per- from another country and want- Since then, he says, he has lived portant clan.” Georgia Power subsidiary shave cantly lowers the long-term fi-
petrate torture directly, he should ed to secede,” Samantar says in in Fairfax “in relative peace.” The Samantar’s clan, the Tumaal, is nearly $2 billion off the cost of the nancing costs. The overall cost of
be held responsible. “He is the Somali as one of his sons trans- living room is adorned with fami- one of a handful of small clans two new nuclear reactors at its the plant decreases, minimizing
highest-ranking person of that re- lates. “In the army, your primary ly photos, an elaborate Arabic considered outcasts. Vogtle site — and Georgia Power the price customers pay over its
gime,” says Yousuf, who spent six function is to defend the nation embroidery of the 99 names of Al- Asked whether he feels re- owns only 45 percent of the proj- operating lifetime.”
years in solitary confinement and from foreign invaders. The army lah in gold, and a black-and-white morse for the brutality of his era ect. But the ratepayers disagree.
is a U.S. citizen living near Atlan- did what it was meant to do — photo of a much younger Saman- in power, Samantar’s answer is Last month, Southern received They say that if the plants are de-
ta. “He gave the commands.” protect the nation from splitting tar shaking hands with Margaret abrupt. “It’s in the past,” he says, “conditional” approval for layed, ratepayers will absorb the
Aziz Mohamed Deria, another in two.” The plaintiffs deny they Thatcher. pouring Splenda from a yellow $8.3 billion in federal loan guar- expense. When the Florida utili-
of the plaintiffs, holds Samantar were part of the rebellion. He is a private man, friends packet to sweeten his bitter chai antees from the Obama adminis- ties said the increasingly hostile
responsible for the day in 1988 After the fall of the Siad Barre and family say, who plays chess, tea. tration on that project. (While atmosphere might prompt them
when the Somali military burst regime in 1991, the Isaaq in the has a warm sense of humor and schulteb@washpost.com still under negotiation, the terms to abandon the nuclear plants,
into his family home and took his north declared independence and prays regularly. He is supported, of the federal loan guarantees the consumers said that only
father, younger brother and sought to establish the nation of he says, by his 13 children. Staff writer Robert Barnes and staff would probably save Southern an proved their point: Consumers
cousin, who were never seen Somaliland, dividing the country David Rawson, the U.S. deputy researcher Meg Smith contributed to additional $15 million to $20 mil- could pay millions for a project
again. “The ones who took them, I in two. chief of mission in Somalia from this report. lion a year, a company spokesman that might never reach fruition.
“If a project cannot attract pri-
vate investment, it’s a turkey and
we shouldn’t be wasting taxpayer
money or forcing the users of
electricity to pay for something
the stakeholders and lenders
won’t risk their money on,” Clark-
son said.
In addition, the consumers ar-
gue, many residential customers
might move to another state, or
even die, in the six to 10 years it
will take for new plants to come
on line, and they might never see
the benefits. Others will have to
stick around another 15 years be-
fore the savings compensate for
higher rates now, Brew said.
FPL Vice Chairman Moray P.
Dewhurst said intergenerational
fairness is always an issue for
power plants. “Look at the won-
derful deal that retirees are get-
ting now from nuclear plants
built years ago and which are
paid for,” he said.
Financing questions have also
challenged nuclear plans in other
states. In Missouri, a backlash
from ratepayers helped defeat a
similar proposal to allow higher
electricity rates during nuclear
plant construction.
In South Carolina, the state Su-
preme Court on Thursday will
consider an appeal by Friends of
the Earth of a decision by the
state Public Service Commission
allowing South Carolina Electric
& Gas (SCE&G) to begin collect-
ing higher rates to cover costs as-
sociated with a two-reactor proj-
ect.
In Texas, rising cost projections
for a pair of new reactors threat-
ened the credit rating of San An-
tonio’s city-owned utility, which
owned 40 percent of the project,
and raised the specter of tax in-
creases. San Antonio fired the
head of its municipal utility and
filed a $32 billion lawsuit against
its partners, NRG Energy and
Toshiba, alleging they concealed
cost information. On Feb. 23, the
partners agreed to shrink the San
Antonio utility’s stake in the proj-
ect to just under 8 percent.
There is one state that has pre-
sented new obstacles to nuclear
power for reasons having nothing
to do with economics. Last
month, the Vermont state Senate
voted against extending the oper-
ating license for Vermont Yankee,
the state’s sole nuclear power
plant, after the discovery of radio-
active tritium in test wells raised
fears about plant safety. (Tritium
raises cancer risks.) Vermont, un-
like most states, must approve
any extension of the plant’s li-
cense, which will expire in 2012.
Most plants must get approval
only from the Nuclear Regulatory
Commission.
mufsons@washpost.com
C M Y K A9
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