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Nuke plant hearings begin tonight; checking the facts
The Elmore County Planning and Zoning Commission will hold a series of four public hearings regarding AEHI's request to rezone the land approximately six miles west of Hammett, the first one beginning tonight (Wednesday).
Each hearing will start at 6:30 at Mountain Home Junior High School's gym and will adhere to the following schedule:
*Oct. 8, applicant presentation, staff report and individuals and groups in support of the application.
*Oct. 22, pre-qualified groups and individuals in opposition to the request.
*Oct. 29, Individuals in opposition to the application (if necessary).
*Nov. 5, rebuttal by applicant.
Groups that wish to speak at the hearings needed to submit a written request to the commission by Oct. 1. Individuals who wish to speak may sign up at the hearing and are limited to three minutes.
Individuals who are undecided on the matter and/or looking for more information are invited to attend all the hearings, Bonnie Sharp, director of Elmore County Growth and Development, said.
Fact check
In the Oct. 1 issue, the Mountain Home News gave Don Gillispie, chairman and CEO of Alternative Energy Holdings, Inc., and Snake River Alliance Executive Director Andrea Shipley were given the chance to present their take on AEHI's request to rezone approximately 1,345 acres of Agricultural A zoned property to Heavy Industrial to build a nuclear power plant on the land.
Both stories presented issues that demanded further investigation.
For example, Gillispie said Elmore County commissioners indicated they were supportive of the proposal last summer if the company came to the county.
"We didn't say we were supportive, we said what we tell everyone, 'if they want to come talk to us, we'll always willing to talk'," Commissioner Arlie Shaw said. "Anyone can come in and make a general presentation and talk to us."
The biggest discrepancy between both sides' stories was the amount of water the plant will consume. Gillispie said the plant will consume 100,000 gallons of water a day while Shipley said a plant the size he wants to build will consume close to 30 million gallons per day.
The amount of water a nuclear power plant consumes is site-dependent and depends on the plant's cooling system.
Gillispie said he intends to build an AVERA EPR plant. A fact sheet found on AVERA's website said the model, depending on the cooling system, uses anywhere from between less than one million gallons per day to 41 million gallons a day.
The amount of water the plant will use will also depend on the amount of water rights AEHI is able to acquire. Gillispie said AEHI will look to acquire the rights to 10 million gallons a day.
However, he maintains the plant will only consume, or lose, 100,000 a day but admits the plant will draw much more water from the Snake River a day.
The water will be drawn off the river into a cooling pond and used as needed. Once the water circulates through the plant, the water will go into another holding pond. The water there can be used for farming or returned into the river once it has cooled back down to meet EPA standards
Gillispie counts all water consumption in the 100,000 gallons a day total for the plant, including water drank from fountains and flushed in toilets.
Shipley said AEHI would use federal and state subsidiaries to finance the plant.
AEHI did not deny that claim.
"Every form of energy takes advantage of government incentives," spokesperson Martin Johncox said. "They are there to promote clean, reliable base load energy and we plan to take advantage of them."
Johncox said subsidiaries/incentives for nuclear plants are normally in the form of loan guarantees and are not normally used.
Shipley questioned AEHI's accountability because of a claim the company was three months delinquent paying their $50,000 application fee to Owyhee County.
Gillispie said Owhyee County's only application fee was $1,000 and he agreed to pay an additional amount to help offset any additional expenses the county might occur while processing the application. The Elmore County Planning and Zoning Commission will charge the company for additional expenses the county occurs while processing AEHI's current application.
Gillispie said he received a letter from Owyhee County stating he owed $50,000 but that he wanted to see an invoice before paying any additional money. He said he paid the additional amount in full once he received the invoice.
Dick Freund, speaking on behalf of and beside the Owyhee County commissioners verified Gillispie's story.
"Once notified in writing, they paid up almost immediately," he said.
Gillispie said one reactor would provide enough power to supply every house in Idaho three times over. AVERA's factsheet said one reactor could provide enough electricity to power 1.6 million homes. A 2006 state censuses showed Idaho had 615,624 housing units, enough for one reactor to power each home in Idaho 2.6 times.
Shipley questioned Elmore County's ability to provide the security infrastructure needed for the plant.
Sheriff Rick Layher said he understood AEHI would provide security on site but the influx of people in the county during the construction and operation phases did cause him some concern.
He compared the additional people the plant would bring into town to planned communities in the county. Layher said planned communities pay impact fees that support additional law enforcement officers for the communities and the challenge would be ensuring the county has additional funds to put officers in place until taxes are collected from the plant.
"As long as we can plan and grow with it, that is the key for everything," he said.