Joe Cury - Opposing Nuclear Power Plants

Opposing Nuclear Power Plants

In 1972, two corporate giants, Westinghouse Electric and Tenneco announced they were forming a joint company "OPS", to build floating nuclear power plants. They decided Blount Island would be the location for their production facility. JEA formed a contract to buy the plants, even though it meant going instantly bankrupt. It turned out JEA bought oil from Ven Fuel. Ven Fuel had one customer, JEA. No one knew who exactly who Ven Fuel was. Ven Fuel was investigated by the Internal Revenue Service and the FEA, and found it illegally did business. The city of Jacksonville, represented by Harry Shorstein, sued Ven Fuel, which settled for $1.2 million and went out of business. In 1976, the JTA voted in an illegal meeting to build the Wesley C. Paxson Memorial Bridge across the Atlantic ocean. When built, the bridge went from Arlington to Blount Island, where no one lived, only a company constructing two power plants. The bridge was going to cost $150 million of taxpayers money that would ultimately never be used.

From 1972 to 1976, a number of related events occurred. They all involved Jacksonville's government, price gouging, and suspect reasoning. These were:

• The Jacksonville Port Authority (JPA) gave OPS 850 acres (3.4 km2) of choice land on Blount Island.
• The JPA gave OPS a money-back guarantee.
• The Jacksonville Transportation Authority (JTA) decided to build a bridge to nowhere, except to the nuclear plant assembly facility.
• The JEA would buy the plants for $2.2 billion

Why did these events occur?

• The businessmen who headed the authorities also had their own businesses
• They would personally profit from the OPS business
• The taxpayer would pay the bill

They were:

• Wesley Paxson, chairman of the JTA and owner of company that would do electrical contracting for OPS
• George Truett Ewton, chairman of the JEA and fellow who would insure OPS through his company, Gulf Life.

Cury frequently traveled to Washington D.C., Tallahassee, and the Jacksonville City Council to openly voice his opinions. With the help of his friends, he was a major force in the community. The city council decided not to approve JEA's contract. Tenneco pulled out of OPS, leaving Westinghouse alone with OPS. OPS had a half-built production facility and no customers, so they fired 500 employees and went to Washington to lobby unsuccessfully.

Cury's protest resulted in the removal of OPS from Jacksonville, exposed all of the authorities that would harm Jacksonville, and protect the citizens of Jacksonville from government corruption. Cury considered running for mayor of Jacksonville. Hans Tanzler, the current mayor at the time, felt Cury could beat him and told him as much. Cury became known to the community through his public interest work and was frequently in the local press, including

• The Florida Times Union
• The St. Petersburg Times
• The Jacksonville Journal

The TV stations in the area also featured him frequently. A good friend and radio personality was Steve Kroft. Joe became nationally known when Joe Klein featured him in the Rolling Stone Magazine, March 25, 1976/issue no. 209 in a 6-page article entitled "Tales of Jacksonville." Apart from receiving many local awards, there is an award named after him awarded annually in Jacksonville.

At his funeral, people who had never met him came to simply pay their' respects. The crowd was so large it poured into the streets.