Thursday, November 12, 2009

Is Cranberry going nuclear?

In just the last week or so, I’ve had calls from several people asking whether it’s true that a nuclear plant is going to be built in Cranberry to power the Township’s electric customers. Apparently there was a story circulating at a recent meeting of a community south of us to the effect that there is a special hush-hush deal between Cranberry and Westinghouse to build a small nuclear power plant here. And the calls I was getting were trying to confirm that rumor.

Well, let me assure you that Cranberry has nothing but peaceful intentions. We do not pose a threat to Jackson or Seven Fields or our neighbors in Marshall. We do not seek a nuclear confrontation with Allegheny or Beaver counties. Nor do we plan to extract plutonium and become a rogue township – a pariah among municipal governments.

The fact is that no negotiations to locate a nuclear plant here have ever taken place. Nor are they likely to. And if they ever did, state and federal agencies would have been all over it. However, we have been in discussions with PennPower about building an electrical substation in the Township. And we hope to have more details on that later this month. We’re also continuing to expand our energy conservation measures. In the meantime, we’ll continue buying our power from plants far outside of Cranberry Township.