]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]      NUKES OR DUKES?         [[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[ 
                        By Dixy Lee Ray                        6/24/88
          Letter in the Richland Times Dispatch, 2/21/88

     The Seabrook nuclear power plant has been completed for 20 
months. It has not received a license largely because Gov. Dukakis has 
refused to allow Massachusetts to take part in the emergency planning 
required by Federal regulators. If he had cooperated, the plant would 
be operating today, it would be reducing our oil imports by 20 million 
barrels a year, the cost of the plant would be millions of dollars 
less, and Public Service of New Hampshire would be solvent, if not 
prosperous.
     A secure supply of electricity is vital to the economy of New 
England. Its eight nuclear plants avoid the burning of over 50 million 
barrels of oil every year and supply New England with one third of its 
electricity. Nuclear plants have been operating safely there since 
1961. Electric power demand in New England is increasing faster than 
the national average, and without nuclear energy the only real options 
are more imported oil and Canadian electricity. Both hurt our balance 
of payments, and each has a security-of-supply risk.
     It is distressing that an elected official -- one who is present-
ing himself as a presidential candidate -- would not only drive a 
company into Chapter 11, but, more important, take such a dangerous 
attitude toward our need for energy and economic security.

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