IS DELAWARE’S TOP POLLUTER GETTING AWAY WITH MURDER?

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     It’s no secret that Demarva Power stands accused as being the #1 cause of pollution in the State of Delaware, and one of the top polluters in America. 

     No one with a brain eats fish from the Indian River (or, for that matter, lets their dogs swim along the riverbanks), where the fossil fuel plant is located.  Even putting incomplete but suspicious cancer cluster studies and conclusions aside, many of those living within a few miles of the power plant find themselves having to scrape and vacuum wayward coal dust layers and mounds off their ceiling fans and window sills with some frequency, monthly some report. 

     This is for real, and no study is needed to support homeowner findings that coal dust accumulates everywhere.  One needs only to look with her or his eyes!  Imagine how much soot is not visible that makes its way into the lungs of residents and visitors?

     Delmarva Power’s coal cleaning and burning processes have often been reported as examples of something considerably less than state-of-the-art technology.  The smokestacks appear to spew out toxins 24/7.  But instead of spending the money to upgrade technologies used, and act like responsible State and community citizens, the company simply turns its back and casually responds that they’re “not the only ones” polluting Delaware’s environment.  Duh. 

     Delaware’s Governor and the State Government act like they’ve been shell-shocked into a catonic stupor as Delmarva Power’s management and attorneys have relentlessly barraged the public for over two years (in customer-paid radio commercials and professionally-crafted news releases among other means) with every conceivable argument for rejecting alternative energy sources driven by renewable wind power proposals. 

     In fact the power company had the audacity to at first suggest that it would instead be better to expand its already-flawed operation, claiming that windmills that were proposed to be located over seven miles offshore would ruin water views, then that too many birds would be killed (by the slow-moving blades), then that it would interfere with boating enthusiasts, then that costs to consumers would be prohibitive, and on and on. 

     Now, in seeing that public outcry was starting to turn the tide against them, they’ve taken up the mantle of out-of-State onshore wind power alternative firms, using out-of-State employees, which they would presumably have a hand (and no small amount of control) in working with.  The power company claims that these choices would be better and more economical than the original proposers, Blue Water Wind, a company that appears to be a capable and responsible in-State provider and employer.  Blue Water was of course one of the first stating opposition to power plant activities. 

     And where have Delaware’s political types been hiding after originally approving Blue Water Wind’s plans?  Instead of taking some steps forward and launching a trial project, the Governor and State Legislators have had a sudden change of heart (supported by virtually no one except Delmarva Power people). 

     State government leaders have been led to believe that all forward movement should stop because they need to study the situation to death.  As coal dust continues round-the-clock to blacken homes, waterways, and critically-needed State farmlands, they may be doing exactly that!          halalpiar

8 comments so far

8 Comments to “IS DELAWARE’S TOP POLLUTER GETTING AWAY WITH MURDER?”

  1. Alan Mulleron 04 May 2008 at 10:45 pm

    Hal:

    Delmarva Power built the Indian River Power Plant but sold it to NRG some years ago. (Conectiv, another business unit of PEPCO, Delmarva’s parent company, still owns the other big coal-burning polluter in Delaware, the Edge Moor Power Plant.) But Delmarva Power itself, technically, owns no power plants.

    “Deregulation” of the electricity business has made relationships and responsibilities almost too complicated to be sorted out–which I cynically suspect of being part of the purpose.

    It’s hard not to think that various business units of PEPCO are getting a cut at various steps in the tangled electricity supply chain–more places than we can readily discern. Maybe this is part of Delmarva Power’s fanatical opposition to the Bluewater power purchase agreement?

    In any event, some people are getting a a much-needed education as to where power lies in Delaware’s political system….

    Regards,

    am [NOTE Alan Muller is the head of GREEN DELAWARE . . . see http://www.greendel.org]

  2. Hal Alpiaron 05 May 2008 at 9:20 am

    . . . And I am clearly one of those people who is getting a much-needed education as well! Thank you, Alan, for the important information. Certainly other comments on this issue are more than welcome! halalpiar

  3. Alan Mulleron 05 May 2008 at 12:46 pm

    Hal:

    I thought about this some more and realized this:

    That while technically Delmarva Power isn’t the polluter any more, in reality they still are, and you are right in substance.

    It’s Delmarva Power that has, and is using, the political and media clout to suborn Delaware’s political system and maintain the status quo of way too much pollution.

    DPL has a somewhat unique ability to manipulate effectively, maybe rivaled in Delaware only by DuPont (the company).
    Conectiv, NRG, the Toxic Chamber, etc, are really only riding on the coattails of this clout…..

    These issues seem, in my experience, to play out according to the flow of information and ideas….stating the obvious, I know. DPL has shown, in the past few months, its ability to (re?)assert control over how their issues are reported in Delaware’s mainstream (corporate) media.

    (And they are benefiting greatly from a double standard that says corporations, agencies, and politicians are allowed and expected to lie, whereas citizens, and especially activists, are expected to be fair, accurate, and truthful….)

    But the influence curve is upward for other info sources, such as your blog, and a lot of people are pissed off. I’m betting against Delmarva on this one. It may take a while, but I think things are finally changing.

    am

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