Newspaper: The Patriot
Date: April 4, 1979
Title: Myers Raps Operation by Met Ed
Author: Dick Poland, Staff Writer

CARLISLE-Cumberland County Commissioner Jacob A. Myers Tuesday blasted Metropolitan Edison Co.’s handling of the Three Mile Island crisis and said the company should evacuate the nuclear plant so another firm can operate it.

Myers accused the Reading-based utility, part of a consortium which owns the Three Mile Island nuclear generating facility, of “a very blatant posture (of) putting your corporate benefits and concern for your company far above your concern for public welfare.”

Myers’ statements were contained in a letter sent to Walter Creitz, MetEd president.

“Simply said,” Myers told Creitz, “your company’s actions make me feel, as a public official, that your presence in this area is no longer desired and you should think about evacuating.”

The commissioner, speaking for himself and not necessarily for the board of commissioners, explained that the letter wasn’t condemning nuclear energy in general or the Three Mile Island plant in particular. Rather, he said, it was aimed at MetEd’s management of the facility and what he said was the arrogance it has displayed in its release of information about the nuclear accident.

“As a commissioner who has had the awesome and painful responsibility of trying to insure the health and welfare of the citizens of Cumberland County,” Myers wrote, “the most agonizing aspect of this entire affair has been dealing with the distraught emotions of the citizens.

“Consistently, Metropolitan Edison’s position has been nothing more than to try and preserve its own position-insuring, wrongfully and inaccurately, that there was indeed nothing to be fearful of.”

Copies of Myers’ letter were sent to the chairman of the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission and Gov. Dick Thornburgh.