Process off to good start

The county has come up with a fairly good plan for dealing with the nuclear power plant rezone application, splitting up hearings in such a manner that the chance of inappropriate confrontations between proponents and opponents of the plan will occur.

The next two hearings will give opponents a chance to be heard (one hearing for groups and one for individuals). Then AEHI will get a hearing for rebuttal. It's a lot like the format for a high school debate, just dragged out over four four-hour hearings.

Then it goes to the P&Z to decide on whether or not to grant the rezone, and no matter what their decision, the county commissioners will hear the inevitable appeal.

But it is actually only the first of a two-step process. If the land is rezoned, AEHI still has to come forward for another set of hearings with a Conditional Use Permit proposal.

While the current hearings will focus solely on land use issues and compatibility with the county's comprehensive plan, it is at the CUP hearings that the real nuts and bolts of this proposal will be put forward, and that's really the time to lay out the issues of safety and or whether nuclear energy, and this plan in particular, is appropriate and viable.

That's where most of the opponents will be able to present their full opposition to nuclear power. They're going to be a little frustrated being restricted in this set of hearings to just dealing with land use and zoning issues.

Frankly, we wish the Snake River Alliance would stay away. Busing in people from out of county to protest at the meetings and fill up the comment time slots simply takes away from the focus on what citizens of Elmore County want. We have no problem if the SRA backstops local opposition, but we think this is a decision local citizens need to make, and we think they are smart enough to be able to do it on their own.

The first step is deciding whether or not this is an appropriate rezone. Should this land be rezoned for industrial use (regardless of the ultimate purpose)?

The decision is going to go a long way to highlight the current county policy and philosophy on how often, where, and under what conditions ag land can be converted to other uses. That alone, will have value to all of us.

-- Kelly Everitt