When the fight began, no one knew whether public opposition could kill Duke Energy’s proposed 40-mile transmission line from a new substation in Campobello, South Carolina to a massive new gas-fired power generation plant at Lake Julian in Skyland. Now that Duke has changed course, energy activists celebrate and refocus.
Local environmental activist and radio host Ned Doyle spoke at a recent Green Drinks gathering at Posana Cafe in downtown Asheville, touting the economic benefits of sustainable development.
Less than a year after the annual Southern Energy & Environment Expo (S.E.E.) announced the end of its 10 year-run, organizers are already planning a similar event for this fall: The Southern Green Living Expo.
Organizers of the annual Southern Energy & Environment Expo announced yesterday that the exhibition is ended, after a 10-year run for the three-day event. They also announced the closing of Our Southern Community Center, opened earlier this year to provide year-round public access to sustainability tools and information. The center will close June 11, when it holds a ‘gone out of business’ sale offering solar products and office furniture.
In the 1980s, U.S. officials considered storing nuclear waste in Sandy Mush just outside of Asheville. Residents fought the proposal, and it was tabled — but not forgotten. On Jan. 7, a busload of area residents met before dawn in Asheville; with the aim, in part, of making sure Sandy Mush didn’t crop up again as an option, they headed to Augusta, Ga., for a meeting of the Blue Ribbon Commission on America’s Nuclear Future. Xpress talked with two folks who took the trip that day — alternative-energy advocate Ned Doyle and photographer Jerry Nelson.
photo by Jerry Nelson
