Orange County NC Website
Bill Strom said that he was in Pittsbora last night and he saw a presentation about haw <br />the nuclear plants are grossly out of compliance with federal government rules. He would like to <br />pursue this collectively with all of their energy right now. He wants to support the resolution and <br />try and invite the operators of the plant again to come to Orange County and explain to the <br />citizens what is going on. They are simply asking for the rules that exist to be enforced. <br />Dan Coleman agreed that something should be done post haste. He said that it <br />behooves each governing body to put this on the agendas of the next meetings. <br />Commissioner Gordon said that she was here when Orange County pursued the <br />intervention. She thinks that it was successful in the sense that the behavior of Progress <br />Energy was changed. She said that the least the area Boards can do is put this resolution on <br />the agendas. She thinks that one way to influence would be to have every single governmental <br />entity within 50 miles of the plant to sign onto something like this. <br />Randee Haven-O'Donnell agreed that the time is now to get the local governments <br />involved. She spoke in support of inviting Progress Energy to public meetings. <br />Commissioner Halkiotis said that it is important that the ward go out to all officials in a <br />50-mile radius to behave. When there was a symposium at the Friday Center, there were <br />officials from Pittsboro, Durham, Chapel Hill, and Carrboro. He said that the rest of the 50-mile <br />radius was quiet because they have already been taken care of. He has not been able to attend <br />certain meetings in the last few years because the sponsors have been Progress Energy, Time <br />Warner, and Blue CrasslBlue Shield, and Orange County has been involved in legal actions <br />with all three. He said that everyone better be prepared to spend some money and prepared for <br />a real battle. <br />Clarifying questions were asked by attendees and answered by Paul Thames. <br />Chair Jacobs added that the ten-mile evacuation plan is inadequate. He said that they <br />need to either urge ar demand that there be planning that includes a 50-mile radius. He made <br />reference to the incident where '/ inch of snow paralyzed Raleigh. This would be nothing <br />compared to an incident at Shearon Harris. He said that if there were not some demand from <br />local governments beyond the ten miles to be included and have a conversation, it would not <br />happen. <br />Commissioner Gordon said that if they could get any of the counties in the ten-mile <br />radius to agree, she thinks that they could get Progress Energy to pay more money for the <br />evacuation planning. <br />Dan Coleman asked if it would be appropriate far each body to appoint someone to a <br />working group that could plan an event. All agreed. <br />Chair Jacobs asked Paul Thames to put together a sample resolution about evacuation <br />planning. <br />Paul Thames clarified the ten-mile radius. Apparently, the ten-mile radius was set <br />because, if there is a nuclear accident, the problem will be with the people in ten miles almost in <br />an instant. The people outside the ten-mile radius will have a longer period of time to evacuate. <br />3. Building Permit Information Data Sharing <br />Planning Director Craig Benedict said that presently the Planning departments share <br />information among jurisdictions -Hillsborough, Carrboro, and Chapel Hill. The planning <br />departments are suggesting to work on some standardization of the forms sa that information <br />can be exchanged more seamlessly. They would like to count new building permits, the type, <br />how much square footage of non-residential there is, etc. This information is used for capital <br />planning purposes -schools, grants, economic development opportunities, etc. The staff is <br />suggesting working together to come up with some standard forms in order to share data in a <br />more efficient way. <br />