TMI closing an opportunity for renewables?/StateImpact PA expansion/Author George Saunders

What to look for on Smart Talk Friday, February 9, 2018:

Last May, the Exelon Corporation announced it would be closing its Three Mile Island Generating Station in the fall of 2019.  The Fortune 100 energy company is citing overburdensome regulation and exclusion from Pennsylvania’s Alternative Energy Portfolio Standard as cause to close the historic nuclear plant.

The two-unit power plant came online in 1974 and became a household word in 1979 following the release of radioactive reactor coolant and a partial meltdown.

Guest Mark Szybist with the National Resource Defense Council says that now is the time for Pennsylvania to scale up renewable energy programs like wind and solar to fill the void left by the reduction in nuclear energy demand.  Will Pennsylvania see this as an opportunity or stayed grounded in the debate.

StateImpact Pennsylvania is a collaboration between WITF, WHYY, WESA and the Allegheny Front covering the commonwealth’s energy economy.  The partnership produces multimedia reports on the energy industry, the economic and environmental impact of energy choices, and how energy production affects the health of citizens and communities.  StateImpact Pennsylvania recently expanded with the help of a major grant from the Corporation of Public Broadcasting.

We’ll learn more about that expansion with Scott Blanchard, Editor, StateImpact Pennsylvania.

Best-selling author George Saunders is appearing at Midtown Scholar Bookstore in Harrisburg Friday night.  His latest book is a historical fiction novel entitled Lincoln in the Bardo.  Saunders talks about the book on Friday’s program.

 

 

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