Jul 21 - McClatchy-Tribune Business News Formerly Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News - John Calkins The Bradenton Herald, Fla.

Eighty-year-old Clarence Troxell says his wife doesn't understand why he's so concerned about the environment.

"She says, 'Why do you care, you're not going to be around much longer anyway.' But I have plenty of reasons: my children and my grandchildren," Troxell said.

Troxell has been fighting for a cleaner Manatee County for decades. He continued that fight Thursday at the River Wilderness County Club, where he, along with other citizens, asked questions and raised concerns to three representatives from Florida Power and Light about FPL's two Manatee power units.

Troxell, who graduated from Yale and served more than 40 years in the energy business, wants the plants to install "scrubbers," which may be able to remove as much as 95 percent of the sulfur dioxide emissions.

But in this area, FPL's priority is controlling nitrogen oxide emissions.

"That's what we're going to go after first," said Mel Klein, FPL area manager. "Nitrogen oxide is linked more to the ozone, and that's what the government is focusing on. After we get that under control, we'll move on."

So FPL chose to implement a process known as "reburn," in which a second flame burns the emission of the main, toxin-emitting flame below it. FPL has said "reburn" could cut nitrogen oxide emissions by as much as 40 percent.

But not everybody is sold on the idea.

"Scrubbing is much more effective," said Clint Miller, chairman of the East Manatee County Coalition. "I'll be surprised if they reduce emissions by 20 percent. Reburning is not very effective."

The installation process of the reburn equipment takes about a year, FPL representative Kevin Gordon told the crowd, and it should be completed by November.

Klein also said FPL understands the concerns people have but said there are also economic factors to be considered.

"We're trying to balance concerns with the economic restraints," he said. "Everything we do has to make technological and economical sense."

Troxell and other speakers also addressed many other environmental issues, including alternative and renewable sources of energy, such as wind, solar and nuclear and the impact vehicles have on the environment.

John Calkins, Herald reporter, can be reached at jcalkins@HeraldToday.com [mailto:jcalkins@HeraldToday.com] or at 708-7909