Levy County, Florida

Levy County is located in northwestern Florida along the Gulf Coast. Created on March 10, 1845, Levy County now contains 1,118 square miles of land area and 294 square miles of water surface. Levy County was named in honor of David Levy, one of Florida's first two US Senators. David Levy was responsible for building the first railroad east/west across Florida, connecting Cedar Key (on the Gulf Coast) with Fernandina (on the Atlantic Coast). The county seat is Bronson.

Levy County is home to Cedar Keys National Wildlife Refuge and part of the Lower Suwannee National Wildlife Refuge. The Shell Mound Unit is also in Levy County.

Progress Energy Florida is moving forward with plans to construct up to two AP1000 nuclear reactors as part of a greenfield plant in Levy County. Approval for the plans could come as early as August, 2011. If approved and built, this would be the first new electricity-generating nuclear power plants built in the United States in more than 30 years. Construction and operation of the new nuclear power plant would allow Progress Energy to phase out operations of coal-fired Units 1 & 2 at nearby Crystal River by 2020 (as long as construction and licensing proceed in a timely manner). However, an application to make a massive rate hike for virtually all Progress Energy customers to pay for the project was unanimously rejected at the state level (January, 2010).

Population Demographics 2010